Take a Recount
by BlueWolfTwilight
Summary: In the final installment of the series, you and Sans struggle to keep your heads above water when the whole world seems intent on dragging you down. (Part 3 of the "Still Counting" series) (Rated T for: graphic violence, body horror, disturbing themes, suggestive themes)
1. Out of the Frying Pan and into the Void

((A/N: ATTENTION! "Take a Recount" is a sequel to "Tally Up Your Sins" and "Count Your blessings." Please read TUYS and CYB before this!

Welcome to the third and final fic in this series! I would recommend reading on AO3 (my username there is "BlueTwilight") because I post there first and I am able to link to fanart, of which there is a surprising amount!

If you want to follow me on tumblr, my url is "bluewuf" and the tag for this fic is "TAR."

Please leave reviews if you have a second! They're very fun to read and they motivate me to write.

Lastly and most importantly, this fic contains more disturbing content than either of the previous. If you have any questions/concerns, please shoot me a private message.))

.

.

PART 1 - INTEGRITY

"Are you sure you'll do a good job?"

"'Course I'm sure… frankly, I'm offended you'd ever doubt me."

"But you're… y'know… a skeleton. It's not like you've ever done this before."

"How hard could it be?"

"That's not the most reassuring thing you've ever said to me."

You fidgeted in your seat, twisting to look over your shoulder at Sans. He stood behind you, one hand on the back of the kitchen chair you were sitting in, and the other wielding an electric razor. He looked down at you and gave you a mischievous grin.

Yeah, not reassuring at all.

"Aw, c'mon, stop squirming. You're the one who wanted me to do it… if I do a bad job, we can just ask Tori to clean it up for ya." You pondered the offer, then nodded determinedly.

"Okay… just cut it off. I can't stand watching it fall out anymore." You turned away from Sans and closed your eyes tightly, clutching the bottom of your seat. You hated this, but… it had to be done. Ever since you'd been brought back into your body, your hair just refused to stay on your head. You thought it'd stop falling out after you'd been alive for a couple days, but it'd been a week now and you still couldn't run your fingers through it without pulling out big clumps. It just looked sickly; you couldn't go outside looking like that.

There were a lot of things about you that made you look like you were… well… recently dead. You were as thin as a rail, your fingernails were black and blue, as though they'd fall out at any moment, and then the hair. At least that last one, you could change.

The buzz of the electric razor brought you out of your thoughts. You flinched as you felt it press up against the back of your neck, then again when you felt the tickle of hair falling onto your shoulders. Sans' free hand came up to rub your shoulder, and you relaxed instinctively at his touch.

It'd be fine… it was just hair, after all.

You sat as still as you could for the rest of the shave, staring glumly at the hair as it fell onto the towel you'd laid out on the floor. Sans actually did a pretty good job, as far as you could tell from where you sat. He was careful, and only nicked you once as he was maneuvering around your ear.

When it was all over, he clicked the razor off and swiped a hand over your now-smooth head.

"Pretty good, if I do say so myself," He boasted, and you brought an anxious hand up to feel for yourself. Yup, the hair was definitely gone. The strange sensation of cold air touching your bare scalp caused you to shiver. Sans leaned over your shoulder so he could look at your nervous expression, "Wanna go look in the mirror?" Your face scrunched up reflexively. You generally avoided mirrors at all costs nowadays. But, at the same time, you did want to make sure Sans hadn't left any stray tufts of hair, or anything.

"I guess." You grabbed your cane from where it was leaning against the table, and Sans took a small step back. Close enough to catch you if need be, but not close enough to be considered hovering. You noticed this, but it didn't bother you as much as it might've under different circumstances. The possibility of you falling while trying to get up from a chair was much greater now than it had been before, so you appreciated having Sans nearby.

Carefully, you used the table to push yourself up. You made a face as your hips cracked and popped painfully, the artificial joints groaning in protest. The sensation was not unfamiliar, though it happened a lot more often and to a greater extreme now than before you'd died. This was the case for many of your physical ailments. Not for the first time, you wondered if you wouldn't be struggling this much if you hadn't been disabled to begin with.

It made you feel strangely guilty, at least when your other monster friends were around. For the most part, they hadn't known that your human body was, for lack of a better word, dysfunctional from the start. It just hadn't seemed important, back when you were Orion. Now, though, it was just another barrier to your healing; a process which everyone had become heavily invested in. You didn't often feel like you had to apologize for being disabled, but this was an exception.

You tried to put it from your mind as you focused on limping to the bathroom, doing your best to ignore the twinges in your ankles. Sans didn't follow you, at least not at first. You had a feeling he'd come to check on you if you took too long.

Even though you knew intellectually that your hair was gone, it was still a shock to see it. Your bald head didn't look terrible; you had a mole on your scalp, but at least you didn't have any other weird lumps or bumps. You reached up with your free hand to touch it again, and shivered. It felt extra sensitive, but not bad, necessarily. Just different.

Inevitably, your focus shifted from your baldness to other unsavory parts of your body. You frowned at your sunken-in cheeks, the dark bags under your eyes, and your flaking skin. You brought your hand down from your head and brushed it over your ribs instead. You could feel every bone, even through your hoodie. Your stomach, which had been bloated for a couple of days at the beginning, was now concave. You'd been trying to eat, if for no other reason than to stave off your friends' incessant nagging, but you couldn't get anything down other than broth. You'd only just started being able to handle the occasional cracker or two.

It didn't even feel like you anymore. You still caught yourself thinking of it as _the_ body, not _yours_ , even though you now lived in it again. The worst part, worse than the pain and the starvation, was feeling the echoes of Orion, even though they were long gone. You felt pain - _actual_ pain - in your wings. Which you didn't have. You kept ducking under doorways when it was no longer necessary, and you caught Sans doing the same. You would have an interesting or funny thought, and would expect Sans to respond in your mind. When he didn't, there'd always be that sharp jolt of panic; fear that he'd left you again, that he wasn't coming back this time... until you remembered.

Just as you'd predicted, Sans poked his head into the bathroom after a couple of minutes. You didn't try to patronize him by lying; he may have done a good job, but you hated the haircut. And he knew it, you were sure.

After a moment of silence, he walked up behind you and slipped his hands around your waist. You watched him from the mirror, and couldn't help but to smile at the sight of him craning his neck so he could place his chin on your shoulder.

"Welcome to the club, baldie." He looked up and sighed, as though lamenting his own bare head. You tried to picture him with a full head of hair, and laughed at how ridiculous the image was.

"Wow, thanks." Your sarcasm earned you a pout and then, with a glint of mischief in his eye, he pulled one hand away from your waist and used it to yank your hood up over your head.

You yelped indignantly and spent a good few minutes trying in vain to bat him off. In the midst of your play-fighting, you accidentally dropped your cane. But Sans supported you enough that you wouldn't have even noticed its absence if it weren't for the loud clattering sound it made against the linoleum.

A loud, rhythmic knock on the front door broke the two of you from your scuffle. Sans gave you time to lean against the vanity before bending down to pick up your cane for you. He silently motioned for you to stay before darting out into the living room. You leaned against the bathroom doorframe and listened nervously.

"Who's there?" Sans asked gruffly. It was as good of an Orion impression as he could manage. From the other side of the door, you heard a muffled, but familiar voice.

"Relax, Sans, it is only I." You heard the click of a lock and Sans telling the guest to "come in." Even so, you didn't come out of your hiding spot until the door had closed again.

"I thought we agreed to use the secret knock?" You rounded the corner in time to see Sans' strained smile in the dim light of the living room. Dim, because all of the shades in the house were drawn, and he hadn't taken the time to turn on the light.

"Was that not it?" The giant monster, who was shrugging off his coat, frowned in thought, "I am sorry, I must have forgotten. I did not mean to cause you undue stress."

"It's okay, Asgore," You said as you flipped on the light switch, "No harm done." The King's eyes widened a little upon seeing your new haircut, but he didn't comment.

"It is good to see you both," He said with a gentle smile, "Sans, I have come to give you this. Doctor Alphys finished it for you late last night," Asgore pulled something out of his pants pocket, which you recognized to be a cell phone. One of the bulky, cumbersome kinds that monsters tended to carry around.

One of many unanticipated problems you'd faced after separating was who would get all of Orion's things. Not that they'd had much in the way of material possessions, but the phone was a big one. It was made even more valuable considering it still, to this day, held all of Gaster's entries. Or, at least, the ones the three of you had managed to find. As soon as the problem became known, Sans had immediately offered the device to you. You weren't sure what that said about him, and not knowing what he was thinking during that moment was maddening. You hadn't pressed him to tell you, though, and simply took the phone for yourself without further comment.

Other than that, most everything else just stayed in Orion's old room, while you and Sans shared the smaller one. The computer, the framed picture, Orion's robe… even Sans' original, ripped up jacket still hung in the closet. The two of you just didn't have the heart to move anything.

Sans reached out and took the new phone, flipping it on before flopping heavily onto the couch.

"Thanks," He said to Asgore as he shot you a knowing look. Both of you knew that the King wouldn't have come here just to give Sans his phone; he would've left that to Alphys, who already comes to visit you daily. There had to be some other reason he was here.

"So…" Asgore began, right on cue, "I do not mean to rush you, but I have been wondering when the two of you planned to make your presence known to the public." You grimaced and shuffled your weight between your two sore feet. Sans immediately stood back up and walked over to stand closer to you.

"Haven't thought about it, why?" Sans lied. The truth was that both of you had thought about it extensively, to the point where you came up with secret knocks so that you'd know it was your friends at the door and not the guards. Asgore sighed deeply,

"I understand that the two of you have been taking a well-deserved rest, but I believe it would be in your best interests not to put this off much longer. The humans are growing more suspicious by the day, and it would be best to reveal yourselves to them before it becomes a problem," Asgore addressed you both, but looked mainly at you as he talked. You didn't imagine that Sans' presence would be questioned much, but your sudden appearance was guaranteed to cause a stir.

You'd been wanting to wait until you looked halfway alive before talking to any humans, but that seemed like it was going to take more time than you had available. Enduring questions about your physical condition as well as your disappearance would be exhausting, but impossible to avoid.

You glanced over at Sans, who gave you a lazy nod. At least the two of you had a plan; and a rather good one, you thought. Sans wouldn't let you do this alone, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

"Alright… maybe this afternoon. It's good that it's a weekday, because at least we don't have to deal with those stupid weekend guards…"

"Actually, I was thinking that you may want to go out there right now," Asgore cut off your rambling, and you and Sans both gave him a questioning look, "It is just that I heard word from Undyne that the protesters are back at the border… the same group that gave you the poster on your front door."

It took you a moment to figure out what he was implying. When you finally did, you turned and reflexively grabbed Sans' arm.

"Sans, my parents! They might be there!" His eyes widened as he caught on a little later than you. He guessed what you were going to ask before you could get the words out.

"You sure you wanna go? You don't have to meet them right now; there'll be other opportunities, we don't have to rush…" He searched your expression, then nodded, "Alright, I'll open a shortcut."

You felt a tiny spark of his magic in the air, then sensed the too-familiar feeling of a shortcut opening to your right. You could've probably found your way to it on your own, but Sans took ahold of your free hand to pull you toward it anyway.

"I expect I will be summoned to the border shortly," There was a glint of humor in Asgore's eyes as he spoke, "Good luck, both of you."

"Thanks," You and Sans said at the same time, though it had happened often enough in the past week that no one present was too surprised by the phenomenon anymore. With that said, the two of you took a step sideways and disappeared from the living room.

You were startled to hear loud yelling as soon as you emerged among the trees. You let go of Sans' hand and stumbled through the undergrowth, straining to listen for your parents' voices.

"Justice for our children! Justice for our children!" The cluster of devoted protesters shouted over and over, their voices muffled by the tightly-packed trees. You struggled toward the sound, hearing Sans curse loudly behind you as his leg became ensnared in a bramble. You didn't wait up for him.

You gasped as you broke into an artificial clearing. The border made a clear-cut line, several meters thick, straight through the otherwise dense forest. You came to a sudden stop, your cane digging into the slightly damp ground as you grabbed onto a nearby tree for added support. The protesters were there, just on the other side of the border. They seemed more determined than last time, and more organized, too. They were shouting together, holding up signs even though, for all they knew, there was no one there to read them. You weren't sure if it was just your smaller, less intimidating perspective, but it seemed like the atmosphere was much more aggressive this time around. Regardless, there were definitely more of them, as far as sheer numbers went.

All rational thought flew out the window when you caught sight of a familiar figure, lined up shoulder to shoulder with the other protesters.

"Mom!" You cried as loud as you could, your voice straining with the effort. Dozens of heads turned, but only one gave a wordless cry in return.

You stumbled into the clearing, very nearly tripping over your own feet. Before you could fall, strong arms wrapped around you in a hug.

"Oh my god… oh my god…" Your mom sobbed as she squeezed the life out of you. You breathed in shuddering gasps of air, inhaling the scent of her hair. Over her shoulder, you could just make out another figure running towards you. Your vision was blurry, but you knew who it was right away.

"Dad…" You muttered, your voice muffled. You let your cane fall to the ground so that you could wrap both arms around each of your parents, confident in the knowledge that they'd support your weight. For only the third time in your entire life, you saw your dad cry.

Time stopped as you stood there, hugging each other. You felt so smothered in love, but in the best way possible. For the moment, all of those crazy months living in the Underground and being Orion just washed away.

Eventually, your mom pulled away a fraction and let out a wet, tearful laugh.

"Baby, what happened to your hair?" You wiped tears from your eyes as you laughed at the ridiculousness of it. Your dad, however, frowned. He pulled you away from Mom and held you at arm's length, concern written all over his face.

"Why do you… you look…"

"Dead?" You quipped wryly, forgetting that no one here would get the joke. You took your first good look at your parents, and found that they didn't look too great, either. Your mom's curly hair was sticking up wildly in all directions, and your dad looked like he'd lost a lot of weight.

Suddenly, from behind you came the sound of someone crashing through the forest. You and your little family all turned to face the noise, your dad still supporting your thin frame by the shoulders.

Sans burst into the clearing inelegantly; hopping on one foot while he struggled to shake the other free of some clingy ferns. Your dad pulled you toward him sharply, cutting you off balance and causing you to crash hard into his chest.

"Get away!" Your mom yelled shrilly, and the crowd behind you began to murmur angrily as they closed ranks around you. Sans' hopeful smile became strained, and fearful sweat formed on his skull as the human mob surged toward him.

"DON'T HURT HIM!" You shrieked and pushed yourself away from your dad, falling flat on your ass when you succeeded. Everyone stopped and stared at you as you snatched up your cane. Your heart was pounding out of your chest; you wanted nothing more than to stand in front of Sans as a human shield, but you had no hope of getting to your feet by yourself. Still, you struggled to stand and, predictably, you fell back onto your butt. You were so frustrated, you wanted to scream.

While everyone else was frozen in shock, you heard the footsteps of someone approaching behind you. Familiar arms slipped under your own and lifted you easily, setting you on your feet and making sure you were stable before letting go.

You panted hard, as if you'd just run a marathon. You turned your head to glance back at Sans. He was standing just over your shoulder, mostly obscured by your taller frame. That confirmation made you feel a little calmer.

"He's my… he saved me. From the Underground," You forced yourself to face forward, toward your parents and the semicircle of strangers behind them, "I got lost, and he's been looking for me this whole time. He saved my life."

Silence reigned. The expressions on the faces of the parents, siblings, and friends of the other missing people were wildly varied. Many were glaring daggers at Sans, unconvinced by your story. Some were staring at you blankly, still shocked that a human had come out of the Underground. Still others looked hopeful, as though thinking that maybe… just _maybe_... their loved one might still be alive, too. Those were the most heartbreaking; you already knew that no more humans were ever going to come out of the Underground. Truthfully, the Underground wasn't big enough to get lost in. If there'd ever been a human hiding down there, someone would've found out by now.

"Honey, come here," Your mom was the first to speak up, her voice a mere whisper. She reached out a hand to you, "Let's go home."

Every now and then, a moment would come along that just _felt_ pivotal. The seconds would stretch on forever, and you could almost see how a single word or gesture might alter the course of your life forever. They seemed to be happening to you a lot recently, and here again was one of those moments. Sans tensed up behind you, as though he felt it, too.

"No." It was no contest, if you were being honest. As much as your own refusal hurt your soul, there was just no way you were going to leave Sans. You'd already promised him you'd stay and, even if you hadn't, you couldn't bear the thought of leaving him, anyway.

"Don't be ridiculous… come home with us," Dad spoke with a sort of desperate authority you'd never heard in his voice before. He took a step toward you, and you and Sans took a simultaneous step back. The crowd began to whisper among themselves. Already, you heard the words "brainwashing" and "Stokholm" being thrown around.

"No. I'm staying here, with the monsters," Before anyone could react, you heard heavy, sprinting footsteps approaching. Everyone turned to look at the guard who was running down the border, one hand resting on the holstered gun on his belt.

"Everyone needs to get back to their side of-" Charlie cut himself off when he caught sight of you and Sans. He came to a sudden halt, his eyes flickering between you and the crowd. He sounded almost exasperated when he asked, "Alright, what the hell's going on here?"

"That thing kidnapped my child!" You gasped in surprise when you heard your mom speak. Did she really not believe you?

"Mom! That's not what happened!" You snapped, far more aggressively than you'd meant to. You turned to Charlie, "Sans saved my life, he never kidnapped me!" You were suddenly reminded of that time Sans locked you in his shed, but pushed the thought from your mind. That was different; no one needed to know about that.

"Bullshit!" Your mom yelled back, and you flinched, "Look at yourself! My god, you look starved! Did they starve you? I swear to god…"

"Okay, okay…" Charlie tried to get between you, but you stepped around him.

"I was lost! I already told you-"

"OKAY!" The guardsman yelled and threw a hand out to stop you from advancing further. Silence fell over the crowd again. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Daujatas running toward the group from the other direction. Charlie took a deep breath and continued,

"Here's what's gonna happen. You two," He looked back at you and Sans, and both of you gulped, "Are comin' with me. The rest of you are gonna get your asses back on the other side of the border," There was some murmuring and shuffling feet, but no one moved, "Come on, now! Did I stutter? Get movin'!" Charlie spread his arms out and ushered people back. You couldn't bear to watch your parent's anguished faces as they were forced away from you, so you turned to look at Sans instead.

"You okay?" You asked, even though you knew he was physically fine. He nodded, but said nothing. He had this faraway look in his eyes, and it scared you a little.

Once Daujatas arrived, Charlie whispered something to her and then left her the task of wrangling the humans. He turned back to you and Sans and gestured for you to follow him. He may have said something, but neither of you heard it over the loud, angry protests of the humans being herded away.

With Charlie in the lead, the three of you walked down the middle of the border in silence, toward the guard tower that loomed ominously in the distance.


	2. Your Silence Will Not Protect You

You and Sans sat in adjacent chairs, both slumped over and panting. Between walking over to the Northwest tower and climbing the excessive number of stairs, you were exhausted. You wouldn't have made it up the stairs at all if Sans hadn't started levitating you when Charlie wasn't looking. But that had exhausted him, in turn; so between the two of you, you were barely able to make it up to the top.

Both of you followed Charlie with your eyes as he paced around the room, talking on some kind of old landline phone.

"Yes, a human, that's what I- yes, and they're with a skeleton. What? No, not the big one… not the other big one, either. I've never seen this guy before," Charlie looked over at Sans and held the receiver away from his ear, "Who are you, again?"

"The name's Sans," He said with a weak wave. Charlie started to bring the phone back up, but aborted the motion halfway through as realization dawned on his face,

"Wait, you mean like, Orion's brother?"

"Half-brother, actually," Sans corrected, and Charlie continued to stare at him for a long second before shaking his head incredulously. An irritated voice on the other line pulled Charlie's attention back to the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still here…"

"You okay?" Sans asked quietly as he nudged you. You sighed and nodded,

"I just wanna go home… I'm sick of this already," He frowned, and his hand twitched as though he wanted to reach out to you. You'd never actually talked about it, but both of you silently knew not to show affection like that in front of the humans. It would just lead to awkward questions, of which there were far too many already.

"Alright, roger that," Charlie said with finality before hanging up the ancient-looking phone. He crossed his arms and stared down at you. You stared back.

"Reives and Wolfe are coming by," The officer broke the silence first, pulling out the chair across from you and taking a seat, "They're the ones in charge of all this monster business," He made a vague hand gesture, and you and Sans shot each other identical grins. Not because either of you much cared to see Reives or Wolfe, but because you were both fond of Charlie. You were glad he was the one who'd found you first.

"So…" The man in question shrugged dramatically, his hands falling onto his lap, "Mind explaining what the hell happened here? I know the big FBI hotshots will be here soon, but, if you wanted to let me in on the story first, I can pretty much guarantee I'll be more understanding than them." You and Sans looked at each other again before you started telling your fabricated story.

"I fell into a hole that led to the Underground. I met Sans, and he told me which way the Barrier was. I tried to find it, but I got lost along the way… when he heard that I was missing, Sans went looking for me. He found me eventually, and here we are," It was a simple, yet foolproof story… at least, as far as you and Sans could tell.

"Fell into a hole, huh?" Charlie scratched his chin, "So, those other missing people… they fall into this hole, too? Are there people still lost down there?"

"No!" You made the mistake of speaking too quickly, and Charlie raised his brows at you. You took a deep breath, "I mean, I doubt it. I didn't see any other humans down there, and neither has Sans. Right, Sans?" You kicked him under the table, since it seemed like he was falling asleep. Levitating you up the stairs must've been even more exhausting than you'd thought.

"Yeah, uh… if there was anyone down there… any humans, I mean… I would've known about it." Charlie gave him a hard stare. You had the distinct, prickling feeling that he knew you weren't telling the whole truth, but he had no way to prove it. Finally, he sighed and rubbed his face,

"Alright… this is gonna be hell, but alright. Speaking of which…" Charlie was looking over your shoulder as you noticed the sound of distant humming. You and Sans turned in your seats simultaneously, and saw that a familiar helicopter was approaching the camp.

"Well, this calls for a second cup of coffee," Charlie's chair scraped on the floor as he stood, turning his back on you to mess with an old coffee maker in the corner, "You two want any?"

"Yes," You and Sans exclaimed, eagerly, at the same time. Charlie snorted and, without another word, pulled out two more mugs.

The three of you sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the sound of the helicopter out the window as it drowned out the grinding noise of the coffee maker. The break from talking was much needed, and you couldn't resist crossing your arms on the table and laying your head down on them. You heard Sans scoot his chair closer to you, then heard the creak of the same chair as he leaned back on it. You didn't raise your head for anything until the sound of something being set on the table in front of you startled you out of your brief respite.

You were about to be irritated, until the smell of coffee hit your nose. Charlie chuckled at your reaction, then handed Sans his own cup. With no heed for how scaldingly hot the drink was, Sans downed half of it in one gulp. Meanwhile, you sipped your own mug slowly, shaking your head when Charlie offered you creamer. He shrugged and proceeded to pour a healthy amount into his own coffee, then emptied two packets of sugar in it, to boot.

By the time all three of you were settled, you heard loud footsteps on the stairs outside,

"Here we go," Charlie said as he went to sit in the chair in the corner behind you.

Suddenly, into the room burst three imposing figures. First came Reives and Wolfe, both of whom looked undeniably frazzled. They were dressed smartly, but you could tell they'd been in a rush. Reives' tie was askew and Wolfe had missed a few strands of hair when she'd put it in a bun. Behind them came Asgore, who was only imposing due to his size. He gave you a reassuring smile as the two agents stared at you, dumbfounded.

"Hi." You forced yourself to smile at the humans; after all, for all they knew, you had no reason to dislike them now. As soon as you spoke, Reives snapped out of it and held out his hand to you, reaching over Sans to do so.

"Hello, I'm Agent Victor Reives… and may I just say that we are all so glad to see you alive and well," You shook his hand firmly, despite still being exhausted. Reives took Charlie's vacated seat across from you as Wolfe approached you with her outstretched hand,

"Agent Amelia Wolfe, pleasure to meet you," The warm grin on her face was almost unsettling; you'd never seen her smile before. The difference between how the agents treated you versus how they'd treated Orion was night and day. As she took the seat across from Sans, you looked over at Asgore expectantly.

"Oh! And I am King Asgore… the leader of the monsters," He winked as the two of you shook, his huge paw completely engulfing your hand.

"And… who are you, exactly?" Reives finally addressed Sans, who was stiff with tension beside you. You pressed your foot against his own, just as a reminder that he wasn't alone. His shoulders relaxed a fraction, and he put on his signature grin,

"I'm Sans… Sans the skeleton. Found this human here wandering around in the Underground, and figured you might want 'em back," He nudged you with his elbow and winked at the agents. You snorted, unable to fully contain your laughter. Reives and Wolfe watched the exchange between the two of you with incredulity.

"So… wait. Why don't you explain to us what happened," Reives asked you in a falsely kind voice. You took a deep breath and began to tell them exactly what you'd told Charlie fifteen minutes earlier, pausing to take a sip from your coffee every now and then.

"You fell into a hole…" Reives mused with a frown once you'd finished, tapping his foot on the ground. He forced a smile onto his face as he asked, "Do you think you could show us where this hole is on the map?"

"No, sorry," You replied with ease, having anticipated that someone would ask you this eventually, "I got kinda lost before I came across it… my friends and I were hiking and I got separated from the group," There was a pause before Reives commented,

"You seem to have a habit of getting lost," When you simply shrugged, he leaned back and continued, "Well, we are certainly glad you are safe now, but you must be exhausted. I believe your parents are still waiting by the border… we'll go track them down, get you back home, and-"

"I'm not going back home," A dangerous silence fell over the guard tower. Even Charlie, still sitting in the corner, raised his brows at you in surprise, "I'm staying here. I can see how badly you're all treating the monsters, and I want to help them. I want to be your ambassador," You looked up at Asgore, who smiled proudly down at you.

"You can't really mean that…" Wolfe spoke for the first time since introducing herself, "You need rest, and to be with family." Your heart ached at the mention of family, but you were steadfast,

"No… what I need to do is stay in the camp, where I'm needed. This is so much more important than just me," You glared from person to person, daring someone else to challenge you. Reives took you up on that silent offer,

"You can't just… surely King Asgore wouldn't want a human living among his people, isn't that right?" He looked up at Asgore, who scratched his chin in mock-thoughtfulness,

"On the contrary, I think this could be a great opportunity. I mean no offense to you, agents, but I feel that having a mediator who is sympathetic to both humans and monsters may benefit everyone," Reives and Wolfe were clearly taken aback by this. Asgore then turned to you with a bright smile, "You are more than welcome to stay in our village, if that is what you desire," You grinned back at him,

"Thanks, Asgore," Reives shook his head and frowned,

"I'm sorry, but you cannot go through with this. You clearly need a hospital… a _human_ hospital… and, even if you weren't as ill as you obviously are, we can't have a human staying in the camp,"

"But Frisk is staying here," You pointed out right away, crossing your arms defiantly, "They're human, so why can't I stay, too?" Before Reives could open his mouth, you added, "And I already told you… I don't need a hospital, I just need rest. I can get that in the camp just as well as anywhere else." The agent's mouth formed a thin, angry line. It was difficult, but you didn't break eye contact. A few, tense seconds ticked by before he responded,

"Well… I see you've already considered every argument I could make. You've thought about this extensively, haven't you?" You shrugged; you couldn't really deny that. But the way he said it made it sound incriminating, "Well, if no one has any other objections…" He glanced over at Wolfe, who gave a little shrug, "I suppose there is no reason why you can't stay, though I strongly suggest that you come with us to the nearest town to get checked out by a doctor," You shook your head vehemently,

"No need, but thanks for the offer," You feared that, if you left the camp, they'd prevent you from reentering somehow. Plus, who knew what kind of weird things a doctor would find wrong with your technically still-dead body.

"If you insist," Reives said with a plastered-on smile, "In that case, there is no real reason for us to stay," He stood, and Wolfe followed his lead, "Don't go causing any trouble, now," The way he said it made you think it was meant to be a joke, but it sounded vaguely threatening at the same time. You grinned and retorted,

"I can't promise anything," Reives laughed tensely, but he was the only one.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other soon," You nodded and shook the agent's outstretched hand again. Reives tipped his head to Asgore as he passed, and Wolfe followed him out of the tower without further acknowledging anyone.

As soon as those two left, the atmosphere of the room seemed to deflate. Everyone let out the breath they'd been holding, and you and Sans visibly sunk into your seats.

"Well, at least that's over," Charlie said what you all were thinking. You downed the rest of your now-cold coffee. "Do you guys want me to walk you back to camp, or…?"

"That will be unnecessary, but thank you, officer," Asgore placed a hand on your shoulder, and the other on Sans', "I will walk these two back home," Charlie shrugged and leaned back on his creaky chair,

"Suits me just fine. See you guys around."

"Undoubtedly," Asgore said as he pushed the two of you forward, nudging you out of your chairs. You and Sans both groaned in protest, but stood compliantly.

"See ya, Charlie," You said in parting as you picked up your cane and limped to the exit. Sans merely gave the officer a lazy wave.

"Yeah, yeah… get some rest," He muttered at watched the three of you walk out the door, leaving him wondering when he'd told you his name.

"I feel that could've gone worse," Asgore commented behind you once you were far enough away that you couldn't be overheard. You were in front, struggling down the stairs as you clung to the railing like a lifeline. You felt bad for holding everyone up, but neither Asgore nor Sans rushed you.

"Coulda gone better, too," Sans remarked, and you grunted in agreement, too focused on not tripping to give a more coherent response. You caught a glimpse of Reives and Wolfe below you, walking along the border before turning sharply and disappearing into the trees. You sighed,

"Why are they so…" You didn't even know how to finish that sentence. Bigoted? Stubborn? Set in their ways?

"They are doing what they think is best for their people," You looked up at Asgore briefly before focusing back on the stairs, "And they are your people, as well… you would do well to remember that in the coming months," You frowned, though no one could see your expression.

"Why do we have to divide ourselves up like that… it's not your people or my people, we're all just _people_." Behind you, you heard Asgore hum lowly. You shot him another glance, and saw that he was staring straight ahead, looking contemplative.

"In an ideal world, you would be right. But, like it or not, that is not how the humans see it. Or the other monsters, for that matter. There are differences between us, and we cannot help but to notice them. It is how we choose to respond to those differences that will matter, in the end."

You chewed your lip and kept your eyes cast downward. You didn't much like being put in the same category as Reives, Wolfe, and all of the other humans. After all, not only were you not prejudiced like most of them, but you knew what it was like to be a monster. You'd _lived_ it. But, at the same time, you still benefited from being a human. The way you'd been treated up in that tower had proved that already. In under two hours, Sans had been accused of kidnapping and brainwashing you, and had been largely ignored by the agents. Even Asgore, the King of monsters, had hardly been acknowledged. It wasn't fair, and you knew that, but knowing it didn't stop people from treating you better.

As you mulled that over, you felt Sans' hand bump yours on the railing. You looked back at him and saw his pained smile. It seemed as though he'd anticipated this.

"Can we go see if my parents are still here?" You were nearing the bottom of the stairs and were itching to forget all about this in favor of seeking some mindless, parental comfort.

"Sure thing, kid," Sans said, but Asgore hesitated,

"I think I will head back home… I do not wish to impose." You shrugged, silently thanking God that you were almost at the bottom of this endless staircase,

"Whatever you want to do," You touched down on solid ground, with Asgore and Sans following behind you.

"In that case, I will see you both back at camp," The King turned toward camp, hesitated, and said over his shoulder, "Good luck with your parents."

With that, you parted ways, with you and Sans beginning the slow walk down the Western border toward where you last saw the protesters. You stumbled often over the tall foliage, and you were trembling with exhaustion.

"Want me to carry you?" Sans offered, but you took one look at him and shook your head,

"No… you'll just drop me," You teased, but it was kind of true. Sans didn't look much better off than you. After having nearly endless magical energy as Orion, he was unused to the limits of his monster soul. He could run out of juice unexpectedly, and you didn't feel like landing ass-first on the ground again.

The whole endeavor turned out to be pointless, anyway; the protesters were all gone, including your parents. Daujatas must've turned them away and told them to go home. Still, you had a hard time believing your parents had left you. You jerked toward the other side of the border, as if determined to check behind every single tree to make sure they weren't hiding from you, but Sans stopped you with a firm hand on your shoulder before you could take more than a single step.

"Don't cross the border… we'll just get into more trouble," He was right, but you didn't like it. You frowned and stared across the clearing for a long moment. Eventually, you gathered the words to say,

"I just… didn't think they'd react like that," Your shoulders slumped, and you sighed, "I dunno what I thought. I guess I just wish they'd listened," You supposed it was no surprise that they didn't have warm and fuzzy feelings toward monsters, but you thought they would've believed you when you said that Sans was your friend. Instead, they seemed to think you'd been brainwashed. Now they were gone, and you'd lost your opportunity to explain it to them, yourself.

"Do you think they'll come back?" You asked Sans, as if he'd know. After all, if you couldn't leave the camp for fear of being locked out, then you'd have to wait for your parents to come to you.

"I hope so," Sans remarked wistfully, and you looked back over at him. You kept forgetting that, on some level, your mom and dad were important to him, too. You still didn't fully understand how he felt, but his familial feelings toward your memories of your parents while you'd been Orion couldn't be ignored. As much as you'd like to pretend they didn't matter to him, you knew that there was something complicated and unnamable there.

"Yeah…" You reached up to pull his hand off of your shoulder, letting his bony fingers slide easily between yours. You gave his hand a squeeze and, without another word, turned around to head back home.

The harsh truth was that you couldn't blame your mom and dad for thinking the worst of Sans and the other monsters. Humans were afraid of what they didn't understand and, like Asgore had said, most of them were just doing what they thought was right, as mistaken as they may be. You didn't fully believe that _everyone_ was acting out of the goodness of their hearts, but, generally, most people weren't much different from you. If you hadn't been the one to guess Chara's name, would you have reacted any differently to the monsters? If it wasn't you who had freed them, would you have been out there protesting, too?

As Sans took you through a shortcut back to your house, you realized that you honestly didn't know. It scared you that you didn't know yourself anymore. You were such a different person now, it was no wonder your own parents had thought you brainwashed.

"Bed?" Sans asked with a tired grunt. You let go of his hand to run your own over your now-bald head.

"Yeah… right behind you."


	3. Fighting Entropy

They didn't come back.

You waited for news that the protesters had returned, but they never did. Asgore said the officers probably scared them off for now, and you agreed. That was likely the case for most of them. But… wouldn't your parents take the chance to be able to talk to you?

Three days after your confrontation with the FBI, a supply drop was scheduled to occur. For the first time since you came to camp as Orion, the drop arrived right on time. You and Sans watched from the window as two guardsmen unloaded the helicopter, while Undyne and Greater Dog carried the crates into one of the empty houses used for storage.

"It'll be nice to have fresh fruit again," You commented, and Sans grunted noncommittally. He'd been in a grumpy mood for the past few days. He was brooding about something, but you just didn't know what. It was maddening not being able to know what he was thinking.

As you watched Greater Dog eagerly heft up the next package, one of the humans stopped him. You and Sans perked up as the guard pointed to your house. GD nodded, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He bounded over to your front door, carrying the large, wooden crate over his head like it weighed nothing.

You grabbed your cane, intending to get up from the kitchen chair you'd dragged into the living room. But, before you could even move, Sans leapt up and beat you to the door. You huffed and set your cane back down.

"Hey GD," Sans said with a casual drawl, "Got somethin' for us?" You couldn't quite see the dog from where you sat, but you certainly heard him barking enthusiastically. He shoved the crate at Sans with a little too much gusto. The short skeleton stumbled, but held it together with a strained smile,

"Woah… thanks, big guy." Greater Dog barked happily and ran off, leaving Sans to kick the door closed behind him.

"What is it?" You asked, leaning forward in your chair. Sans dropped the crate on the ground with a loud _THUD_.

"Dunno… it's got your name written on the top, though," He grunted with a frown. You could tell what he was thinking; if the humans were giving you a heavy, mysterious crate, it had to be bad news.

Too anxious to sit any longer, you got to your feet and stood by Sans' side,

"Well, let's crack it open, then."

That, in itself, turned out to be harder than you'd anticipated. Sans suggested levitating it up with his magic and dropping it on the floor until it cracked, but you nixed that idea. If there was anything fragile in the crate, that would certainly break it. Plus, you privately doubted that Sans would have the energy to lift the box repeatedly like that. You didn't have a crowbar, however, a strategically shaped bone summoned by Sans ended up doing the job, instead. Both of you, weak as you still were from splitting into separate bodies, were sweating by the time you were able to slide the top of the crate off of the box and onto the floor.

Clothes. When you peered into the box, all you saw were clothes. You were confused for a moment, until you realized they were _your_ clothes. A modest mix of t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, and sweatpants, along with the occasional pair of shorts that you'd bought on a whim and never actually wore. It was bizarre, seeing all of your old stuff again. You'd been wearing other people's clothes for so long that you hardly identified with your own anymore.

You began removing the carefully folded garments, at first one-by-one, but then in large stacks. Underneath the clothes were other miscellaneous things of yours. Biology and chemistry textbooks, along with a few old notebooks that you'd saved from the trash, were responsible for weighing down the crate so much. A smattering of art supplies in the corner of the box told the story of someone who'd wanted to be a good artist, but hadn't had the patience, the passion, or the time to practice often enough to excel. A PS4, lying flat next to a healthy collection of gaming equipment, was more well-worn than the art supplies.

These items from your past were all surreal to you, but what brought you back down to earth was a single, ancient rubik's cube, which you recognized as your own from the way the stickers had peeled back at the edges.

"Fuck," Sans cursed, and you silently agreed. There was no note, but a lonely crate filled with your things from home, delivered right to your doorstep, said enough.

Using the box for support, you lowered yourself to the floor. You sat with your back against the wooden crate, your knees drawn up to your chest and your head buried in your arms.

"They're not coming back," You said, your voice muffled. Your parents had obviously put this crate together; it was filled with everything that was important to you. If they'd been planning on coming back to camp, they would've given it to you themselves. And if they were being forced to stay away by the FBI, they would've left you a note.

Against your will, tears started pooling in the corners of your eyes. You _really_ didn't want to cry…

Beside you, you sensed Sans picking up your clothes and putting them back in the box. Without warning, the crate disappeared from behind you. You looked up, and saw that he was carrying it again.

"Let's put this in Orion's room," He said with a grimace, and left without waiting for your input.

The following days saw you still wearing other people's clothes, for the most part. Undyne and Papyrus were the most willing to share, plus their clothes fit you better than anyone else's, so that was what you ended up in most of the time. Papyrus' crop tops fit like normal t-shirts on you, and Undyne's pants were alright as long as you rolled them up a few times. Sans, who was closer to Alphys' size, ended up wearing hilariously out-of-place, anime-themed graphic tees. He took it in stride, despite Alphys' constant, stammering apologies.

Even though your friends were happy to help with this small dilemma, you still found yourself thinking unendingly about the box. It would be just a little easier for everyone if you nutted up and unpacked it. They were already doing so much for you… couldn't you at least give them their clothes back? But, once Sans gave you permission not to deal with it by putting it in the spare room, it was near impossible to convince yourself to go and look through it again.

Eventually, though, life moved on, and the heartbreaking realization that your parents had abandoned you grew easier to bear. Your friends came over often and, now that you were no longer in hiding, you and Sans could go over to visit them, too. The tradition of eating dinner at Toriel's house was back on, and a new tradition of watching movies at Papyrus, Alphys, and Undyne's house began. Asgore often invited you over for tea and promised that, once the weather permitted, he'd help you build a garden in your sad-looking backyard. Sans didn't relish the thought of manual labor, but the King jokingly offered him a lawn chair to snooze on while you worked.

You felt like people cared about you… at least in this little corner of the world. That was what gave you the strength to return back to the crate a week after its arrival.

You started small with just your favorite pair of sweatpants. They smelled like the detergent your dad used when he did the laundry, but you ignored that and wore them anyway. Sans didn't question it when he saw the pants on you, and so you slowly started integrating your old wardrobe back into your daily life. Unfortunately, Sans started taking that as an invitation to borrow the clothes you hung up in your shared closet, and you were constantly bickering about it light-heartedly.

It was good, though. It felt… normal.

What _didn't_ feel normal was how you were not getting stronger. Your "condition," as your friends seemed to like calling it, was worsening, not improving. Much more serious than your nagging over clothes were the arguments you and Sans got in over your health. He'd latched onto the idea that you should go and see a human doctor, which you were staunchly opposed to.

"I'm _not_ leaving camp," You argued with as much conviction as you could manage, your chin resting heavily on San's clavicle as he carried you piggyback style down the street. You'd woken up that morning unable to walk, which had reignited the ongoing fight about your weakness.

"You are, if you don't get better soon," He growled, tightening his hold on your legs, "We can't just ignore this… I'm feeling better, and you're not. Clearly something's wrong here." That was true, you had to admit. While Sans' magical energy had been a bit weaker than normal at first, it had long since returned in full force.

"Yeah, and that's why we're going to see Toriel. She's better than any doctor, anyway," You retorted, and he didn't respond. You could tell you hadn't convinced him, though. What did he honestly think a human doctor was going to do?

Once you got to Tori's front door, you reached over Sans' shoulder and knocked. Even that simple motion made your joints ache. Frisk answered the door, and their bright expression turned to a frown when they saw you being carried.

"Get your mom, kiddo," Sans ordered in a harsher voice than he usually used with the child. They nodded determinedly and ran off.

Sans let himself into the house and kicked the door shut. He deposited you onto the couch carefully. You huffed, annoyed and frustrated at this whole situation.

"Oh, dear… what happened?" Toriel asked as she emerged from the kitchen, her long but elegant stride carrying her over to where you were slumped on the couch. You crossed your arms self-consciously,

"Nothing happened, Sans is just overreacting."

"I'm not overreacting; you can't walk," He crossed his arms too, probably unaware that he was mimicking you.

"Is this true?" Toriel asked you, and you shifted in your seat uncomfortably.

"I mean, I'm a little sore," You hated everything about this. You hated that you weren't getting better, you hated that you couldn't ignore it, and you hated that everyone was so worried about you. Especially Sans… so much so that he seemed willing to ship you off to God knows where, fully aware that you might not be allowed back.

Toriel frowned and kneeled beside you. Her gaze was so intense that you couldn't meet it. Instead, you looked over at Sans, who was talking to Frisk. The kid made rapid motions with their hands, which you were no longer capable of recognizing. Sans was, though, and he responded by ruffling their short hair,

"It'll be alright… howzabout you go play outside? Better take a coat, though… wouldn't want to freeze down to the _bone_." Frisk frowned at the half-assed pun, but obeyed. On their way out, they slammed the door loud enough to make you flinch. Toriel clicked her tongue,

"I keep telling them not to do that… oh, well," She turned her attention back to you, "Relax, dear. I am going to try to heal you, though I cannot promise it will help in your… unique situation." You nodded and, after a moment of awkward hesitation, decided to lay flat on your back. Toriel placed both of her furry hands on one of your legs, and you closed your eyes…

Suddenly, as her magic touched your aching body, you felt a jolt of fear. Instead of the calming feeling you'd come to associate with healing magic, you felt cold and confused. Something deep inside of you rebelled, and you stiffened. For some reason, you thought you were paralyzed. As soon as you realized you could move, though, you jerked away from Toriel's touch, your fearful eyes snapping open.

"What is the matter?" Tori asked, concern written all over her face. You stared at her with wide eyes,

"You… didn't feel that?" You looked between Toriel and Sans, the latter of which had his arms tightly crossed as though he was holding himself back.

"No… I felt nothing out of the ordinary," She furrowed her brow and reached out to touch your forehead. Assuming that she was going to try to heal you again, your hand flew up to swat her away. She raised her hands in surrender, "Easy, my child… I will not continue the healing if it is causing you pain. Even though that is extremely unusual…"

"It's not painful, it's just-" You cut yourself off. You couldn't really explain what had happened. You looked over at Sans helplessly, but his expression was unreadable.

"Well, I was nearly finished, anyway. Does your leg feel any better?" Toriel sounded hopeful, but you looked down at yourself skeptically. You swung your legs over the side of the couch and tested a little weight on them. They both still felt weak, and you were sure you'd collapse if you stood. It was exhausting just thinking about it.

"No… sorry," You thought about lying just to get Sans off of your back, but you wouldn't have been able to hide it for long.

"No need to apologize, dear," Toriel said sadly, "I am the one who is sorry. It seems there is something preventing your healing." No one said it, but you were sure everyone in the room knew why it hadn't worked. No matter what you did, your body was still dead. Sure, you'd managed to fake it well enough to shove your soul back into it, but there were consequences. Your hair wasn't growing back, though it should've started coming in by now. Your toenails were falling off one by one, making it even more painful to walk than it already was. And, of course, there was your worsening weakness. It was like your already feeble muscles were slowly deteriorating to nothing. You felt like you were turning back into a skeleton, slowly but surely.

"You should go see Papyrus," Toriel blurted out suddenly, shattering the silence. You and Sans stared at her blankly, "I only meant that… he may be able to help where I cannot. I confess that I do not know much about this, er, _brand_ of magic, but I believe that the book you found on it mentioned a strong connection between the caster and the object of interest..." She blushed and amended, "Well, not that you are an object, of course, but I just mean… there may very well be some bond between you and your brother that we should be taking advantage of," Toriel concluded, and you and Sans glanced at each other. Neither of you bothered correcting the "brother" slip; that was a complicated matter in its own right, and there were more important issues at hand at the moment.

"Let's try," You spoke quickly before Sans could voice his concerns, "It can't hurt, right? And I'm pretty sure Pap would love to help…" You waited with bated breath for Sans to say his opinion. Toriel watched this interaction with a deep frown, though you weren't sure why.

"Alright… let's go now," Sans agreed, and you exhaled. You raised your arms and clung to Sans as he transferred you onto his back.

"Thanks anyway, Toriel," You craned your neck to look back at her as you were carried away. Sans was too single-minded at the moment to think of saying goodbye. Toriel stood from her kneeling position and said in a wistful tone,

"Good luck."

While Sans took a shortcut outside and walked the few remaining feet to Papyrus' door, you laid your head back on his collarbone and closed your eyes. To get your attention, Sans bounced you a little on his hips and asked,

"Hey, you okay back there?" He hesitated at the door. Ever since you woke up like this, Sans had been full of nervous tension. No, even before that… every day that passed without any improvement in your health seemed to add another weight onto his back. Both literally and figuratively. You were worried about it too, sure, but not as much as him. It wasn't like you'd never felt this shitty before. You felt like you were a few weeks out from a surgery, during that time when you were no longer on pain killers but still felt that ever-present throbbing in your bones. Or after that one day when you'd missed the bus and had to walk home from school in the rain. You'd laid on the couch, too sore to move for the rest of the day.

But that was the thing… those incidents all had a clear cause and hope for improvement. You'd never just steadily declined like this for no reason. And it seemed unlikely that you'd get better on your own. How far would it go? Would you eventually just fade away to nothing? Would Sans be forced to reabsorb your soul to save you? You didn't doubt that he'd do it in an emergency. As much as you _really_ didn't want it to come to that, you would selfishly prefer being Orion over being dead. And, if you caved in, went to a human doctor, and weren't allowed back into camp, then Sans wouldn't be around to take your soul if it came to that…

All of these thoughts swirled in your mind, but you didn't have anyone to share them with. Sure, Sans was right there, about as close as he could get physically, but still so far away. You pressed the side of your head against his, willing your thoughts to traverse the impassable barriers of flesh and bone between you. Sans paused, as though listening for them. But you knew that he'd heard nothing when he lifted his foot and knocked on the front door with it.

Immediately, the door flew open, and you would've been startled if you weren't so tired.

"HELLO AND GOOD MORNING MY-" Papyrus cut himself off when he noticed you clinging to Sans' back, "Hey! Sans, I did not know you were giving piggyback rides! Can I have one?!"

"Maybe later, Pap," Sans said tiredly, letting himself into the house. It seemed that Undyne and Alphys were either already gone or still sleeping, since the living room was empty and there was a lack of alarming noises coming from the kitchen.

"Well, have you come to initiate some brotherly bonding time? I have to go to work soon, but never fear! You can come with me! It'll be fun!" Everything was starting to feel very distant; you were having trouble concentrating on what was happening around you. Even so, you felt Sans cringe minutely, and still had the presence of mind to know why. He and Papyrus hadn't exactly had any "brotherly bonding time" in the two weeks since you and Sans had been resurrected, and you knew Sans felt that it was his fault. Sure, the two of them hung out sometimes, but it was always in the presence of you, Alphys, and Undyne. Sans never could bring himself to make more of an effort than that, and, when you asked, he couldn't explain why.

"Actually… uh… we were hoping you'd do us a bit of a favor…" Sans squeezed your legs, signaling you to jump into the conversation. You opened your mouth, but a wave of nausea forced you to clamp it shut again. You slumped over Sans' shoulder, shivering as a sudden chill overtook you.

"HUMAN?! WHAT IS WRONG?" Papyrus' shrill voice rang through your skull, though you barely heard him. Your skin felt clammy and cold, and you were finding it hard to continue ignoring the sharp, throbbing pain in your limbs.

"They ain't feelin' so well, Pap," There was a desperate edge to his words, which you only just managed to pick up on in your sudden haze. You felt yourself being lifted, and were about to panic at being separated from Sans until you realized it was Papyrus who'd removed you.

"Never fear, human! The Great Papyrus will heal you right up!" You felt yourself being set on the couch, your eyelids now too heavy to keep open. Papyrus' chest was against your back, mimicking the position Orion had taken when papyrus had healed them, too. You leaned sideways against the back of the couch, propped up between it and the skeleton. You felt like you were either going to fall asleep or throw up.

In the end, you did neither. Once Papyrus put his hands on your bald head, you experienced a warmth that you hadn't felt with Toriel. The innate fear was still there, lurking... but the calming feeling in your chest chased it away quickly. It didn't quite feel the same as normal healing magic, but you couldn't put your finger on what was different this time. Eventually, your racing heartbeat steadied, and your cold skin grew warm. You flexed your fingers and opened your eyes, looking back at Papyrus as his hands slipped from your head.

"Feel better?" He asked kindly. You blinked, and nodded in dumb amazement.

"Really?" Sans asked, surprised but hopeful. He hadn't expected it to work, you could see that now.

"Well, of course!" Papyrus exclaimed proudly, "I am a master of healing, as with all things!" You were only half-listening to his boasting, too busy marveling at your sudden improvement. You wiggled your toes and flexed your ankles experimentally. One of your joints popped, but it didn't hurt. It felt good, actually. You leaned forward and stretched your arms over your head, cracking the joints in your wrist as you did so. Sans and Papyrus both cringed at the sound. You laughed airily.

"Thanks, Papyrus… I feel much better," You said, taking a deep breath for what felt like the first time. You felt better than you'd ever felt in the past two weeks… It was like some kind of miracle.

"Just take it easy…" Sans started, already anticipating what you were about to do. You ignored him and used the arm of the couch to push yourself to your feet. He was there immediately, grabbing onto your arm reflexively as though preparing to catch you. But he needn't have worried; you were just fine.

It occurred to you then that Sans had never really known you in your normal, healthy body. When the two of you first met in the Underground, you'd already had a broken leg courtesy of Flowey. Then, of course, there was Orion… and now this. Though you weren't the most physically able person even when you were feeling your best, you were still excited at the vague possibility of getting to show him what you were actually like. Even though you and Sans knew each other perhaps more intimately than any other two people on the planet, your experiences with each other were so fraught with constant conflict that there were a lot of things your relationship was missing out on.

You realized, then, that you were starting to see you and Sans like you were some kind of couple. You tamped down on those thoughts right away, too uncertain about that to deal with it right now.

Once he saw that you were doing alright, Sans' fingers loosened their grip on your arm. His hand slipped down to grasp your own. You looked up and returned his tentative smile. You didn't fully understand why Papyrus was able to heal you when Toriel couldn't, but you'd take whatever you could get.

"Whew! Now that that emergency is over… I have to get to work! The offer still stands if the two of you would like to accompany me to an impromptu bring-your-siblings-to-work day!" You and Sans looked at each other, and you gave him a small nod. You'd have to go grab your cane first; you weren't crazy enough to leave it behind on a day at work with Papyrus.

"Sure, Pap," Sans said with an easy-going smile. He looked more relaxed now than he had been in weeks.

"Excellent!" Papyrus jumped from the couch, "Undyne has asked me to patrol Hotland today! The guards who are usually in charge of that area are on their honeymoon… isn't love just great?!" You and Sans looked at each other at the same time, and laughed. Between your snorts, you told a confused Papyrus,

"Yeah, it is."


	4. Red Pill, Blue Pill

For the first time since you woke up in your own body, things were actually going well. Physically, you were feeling better than ever… but not without a catch. Every two or three days, depending on how much you pushed yourself, you'd have to go to Papyrus to get healed again. It was like your body was perpetually eroding away, and only he could put it back together. Of course, Papyrus was happy to do it, but it did bother you a little. You didn't like relying on someone so heavily; though, if it had to be anyone, you were glad it was Papyrus. Still, it was always something lurking in the back of your mind, and you wished you could be rid of the worry.

But, aside from that hiccup, you were doing alright. It was much easier to see the bright side of being stuck in camp when you weren't in constant, debilitating pain. Now that you were feeling better, you felt that you were ready to start tackling your duties as a new ambassador. It seemed Asgore had the same idea, since you couldn't think of any other reason that he'd formally invite you over to his house for a "discussion" one afternoon.

It was right after one of your brief healing sessions with Papyrus that you and Sans took a shortcut into Asgore's house, preferring to forgo a walk in the uncomfortably crisp, early December air. The two of you appeared in the King's living room, and Sans reached back and rapped his knuckles on the front door belatedly. You had to stifle your laughter.

"Just one moment! I'll be right - oh!" Asgore's booming voice came from the kitchen, but he cut himself off when he saw the two of you already in his house. He chuckled, "My apologies, I do always seem to forget where Orion inherited their teleporting powers from," You and Sans glanced at each other, always uneasy whenever Orion was mentioned. Asgore didn't notice and continued talking, "Please have a seat… I am almost finished brewing a kettle of tea."

You sat down at the kitchen table as instructed, you and Sans placing yourselves shoulder to shoulder. When Asgore emerged with mugs of tea, he got a close-up look at Sans and laughed out loud,

"I like your shirt, though perhaps it is a little... redundant?" The King teased, and you rolled your eyes in exasperation. Sans was wearing a black shirt with a skeleton print on it, complete with a ribcage, spine, and pelvis. It was one of yours; you'd tried to move it to your closet discretely, but of course he'd found it. The look of pure glee on his face when he caught sight of it made it almost worth it, but the way his very real, boney arms stuck out from the cartoon skeleton was just odd. Plus, it straddled the uncomfortable border of lewdness… was it weird for him to be wearing an image of a skeleton pelvis? You thought so, but he clearly didn't.

"Thanks… I think it really compliments my figure, wouldn't you say?" Sans replied as he slouched back on his chair lazily. You rubbed your face with your hands.

"Undoubtedly," Asgore said with a smile as he passed out the freshly brewed tea. He gave you a mug that was only half full, which was just fine by you. You leaned forward and scooted the mug closer, hissing when its ceramic surface was hotter than you'd anticipated. As you simply breathed in the aroma of the tea, Sans took his and downed half of it in one gulp. Asgore was unfazed.

"At any rate," He continued as he sat down across from you, sipping on his own tea like an actual gentleman, "It has been several weeks now… how are the two of you settling in?"

"Fine," You answered for the both of you, "I'm feeling better, finally," You squeezed your cane, which was resting between your thighs. You weren't lying, for once; the improvement in your health had been quite drastic once you started seeing Papyrus on the regular. Sometimes, you didn't even need your cane when you were just walking around in your own house, though Sans always got nervous whenever he saw you without it. In addition, your hair was finally coming in. You were wearing a beanie today, but you could feel the little pinpricks of hair rubbing against your hat whenever you moved your head.

"So I have noticed… this is great to hear," Asgore said with a kind smile. You fidgeted and took a sip of your tea before remembering that you didn't like tea. You tried not to make a face as you set the mug back down slowly. "In that case, would you be willing to begin your work for me? I do not want to pressure you, if you still need time-"

"Yes! I'd love to," You answered immediately, desperate as you were to start working as an ambassador. Not that you weren't nervous to be taking on such an important role, but you were going to go insane if you had to spend another day just lounging around with nothing to do. That kind of lifestyle suited Sans just fine, but not you.

"Alright, then," He chuckled, but sobered as he got up from his seat and went into his bedroom. You and Sans watched him curiously as he returned with a sizable stack of papers. He set them onto the table gently, trying not to make a great amount of ruckus, "These are the minutes from our meetings with the humans. We typically meet every Tuesday… and I would like you to start attending those meetings."

"Tuesday… that was yesterday," You said absentmindedly as you pulled the stack of papers closer to you. You had to stand up to see the top of the pile, and your cane clattered to the ground as you did so. You ignored it, though the unexpected sound caused Asgore to jump.

"Yes, and that meeting is on the top. They are organized from most to least recent," The King said, rubbing the back of his neck. You pulled out the first stapled stack of papers and, sure enough, it was dated as 12/11/18. Everyone who had attended was listed at the top, which included Reives, Wolfe, Charlie, Asgore, and Undyne.

"Does Undyne come to all the meetings, too?" You asked, thumbing through the pages of typed-up notes.

"Usually, yes." You wondered how _that_ went, but found that, while skimming the transcript of the latest meeting, Undyne never seemed to say anything. It was unlike her. You furrowed your brow as you cherry-picked certain parts to read, taking special interest when your name popped up. Sans leaned over to read, too.

Most of the last meeting had been about you, in fact. It felt weird knowing that people were talking about you, but they didn't appear to have been saying anything particularly shocking. It was, apparently, already common knowledge among the public that you'd returned from the Underground, and the news stations were clamoring to talk to you. Asgore had been adamant that no other humans were allowed to enter the camp, and you didn't have to leave the camp or talk to anyone if you didn't want to. You felt grateful that he'd been looking out for you, even when you didn't know that any of this was going on at the time. All the more reason to start getting involved in this chaos, so that you could defend yourself instead of making Asgore fight your battles.

The King watched, giving you time to skim over the meeting. When you looked up from the paper, he said,

"I was hoping you would take these home with you and read up on what you've missed… it would be wise to be well-versed in what has already been discussed before you take part in the next meeting." You nodded curtly, determined to do your best. You weren't sure you'd be able to read all of this in less than a week, but you could try.

"Excellent," Asgore continued with a smile, which fell into a thoughtful frown, "It is… not the best situation, I am afraid. I am sure you already know that from your previous interactions with the humans and from what I have already told you... but it is becoming more and more difficult by the day to get them to make concessions. I believe Mr. Reives may still hold some bitterness toward us because of the gold situation…" You pursed your lips as the memories started flooding back. Reives had been scamming the monsters by far underpricing the gold they possessed, but he couldn't continue to do so once you'd revealed the fact that the monsters had gold to the public. Now, Reives' spending was most likely being held under greater scrutiny. You hadn't even meant to expose Reives; you just thought you were being nice by leaving the kind people in that restaurant a generous tip. But you were glad it had worked out in the monsters' favor, anyway.

"Well… whatever. It's not like things can just stay like this forever, so Reives will have to get over it eventually and start thinking about the future," You leaned back, bringing your tea with you. It was cooled down enough now that you could warm your hands on it without getting burned.

"Perhaps. But, if I can be frank with you…" The King glanced between you and Sans, as though judging how vulnerable he could be in front of the two of you. He seemed to deem you worthy, and continued, "...I am very much at a loss as to how to proceed. There has been talk between the humans about pro-monster movements and anti-monster movements, not to mention the relations with other regions that they call 'countries'... it is all much more complicated than I remember from before we were sealed underground. I truly do not know what the public opinion is like outside of this plot of land. The two of you would have a better idea than I, since you made the trip to that human village," He scratched the top of his head, then continued, "We need you more than I would like to admit. Yes, Frisk has technically been our ambassador, but I gave them that title largely to keep the humans from taking them away from Tori. They are only a child… there is only so much I can ask of them."

You listened to this quietly while mulling it over in your mind. Your initial reaction to having all of this weight placed on your shoulders was mild panic. After all, you were no politician… you'd never even taken a political science class. But, you didn't think Asgore expected miracles from you, so you would have to try not to expect that of yourself. It seemed like what he mostly needed from you was someone to make sense of basic human institutions. Even just explaining what countries were to him would be a step in the right direction.

"Yeah, I understand," As Sans set down his mug, you held your own out to him absentmindedly. He took it wordlessly and started drinking your mostly untouched tea, "Well, um, I guess I'd like to start by asking… do you know who Reives and Wolfe are? Because you keep calling Reives 'Mr,' and that's not really how you're supposed to be addressing him…"

This began a long explanation of the system of power just within the camp, and then branching out more broadly to the justice system of the entire country. Asgore was mortified to realize that he'd been addressing the agents incorrectly this entire time, though you privately didn't think that how he addressed them really made any difference in their opinions of him. You explained how the FBI acted as the law enforcers of the whole country, while the officers who guarded the camp had come from local police forces. The King was often slow on the uptake, probably unused to thinking about groups of people in such large populations. But he was very interested in it, and asked a lot of questions. You tried your best to answer them, but you didn't always have the details he was looking for. You knew the basic idea of how your government worked, but nothing specific.

Sans was silent during this whole discussion, until it started getting late. He nudged your shoulder with his own during a lull in conversation,

"Hey, didn'tcha want to do that dinner thing tonight? We should get goin'." You looked at your phone for the time and saw that it was 3 o'clock. He was right… you'd better get back home and start preparing.

"Ah, sorry, Asgore… Sans is right. We really should go, if you don't mind." Asgore waved you off,

"Of course, of course… go right ahead."

"Are you sure you don't want to come over tonight? Everyone else is coming…" You bit your lip, hoping that Asgore wasn't excluding himself just because Toriel was going to be there. He chuckled and shook his head,

"No, no… I doubt everyone would fit into your living room, anyway. And I have other matters to attend to. Another day, maybe." You hummed and frowned down at your long-empty mug,

"Well, if you're sure," You reached down and grabbed your cane from the floor. Sans stood with you, the back of his hand brushing yours before he leaned forward to pick up the large stack of papers on the table. "See you later then, Your Majesty."

"Indeed. Have a good day, you two." With that, you and Sans took a shortcut out. As usual, you felt a tingle of recognition when he opened the portal. That feeling always made you think that maybe you could do magic, too… like it was right at your fingertips. But it never worked whenever you tried. And Sans discouraged you from trying, anyway… he said he didn't want you to strain yourself.

As soon as you got back home, you ventured into the kitchen, with Sans following you as soon as he set down the papers. You picked up a note on the counter; one you'd placed there yourself. It was a recipe… Toriel had written it for you as soon as you'd mentioned off-hand that you might like to make dinner for everyone one day.

It had been a silly, spontaneous idea that was now coming to fruition. You'd never hosted a party of any sort, but that was what this had come to. Not only were you making dinner for everyone, but Alphys had brought you a TV from the Underground so that you could all play video games together. You had your PS4, now that you'd been brave enough to unpack it, plus a sizable collection of games. It'd be a nice change of pace for the monsters, whose only entertainment for years had been Mettaton movies and whatever old VHS tapes happened to fall into the Underground.

The problem was that you had no idea how to cook, and Sans was no help, either. He knew how to bake a few things, so he had more experience than you, but he hadn't been a big fan of this idea to begin with. Therefore, he wasn't too inclined to help. Thankfully, once he saw you staring blankly at the recipe, he opened up the fridge to start digging for the ingredients Toriel had given you. His silent solidarity calmed your nerves.

In the end, it really wasn't that difficult. It was some kind of casserole, so all you really had to do was throw the ingredients together and pop the whole thing in the oven. You and Sans got into a minor food fight, but even so, you were still done with the cooking well before your guests arrived.

"HELLO SIBLING!" Papyrus exclaimed as you opened the front door to let him, Undyne, and Alphys into the house, "We have arrived!" You scuffed your foot on the ground and mumbled,

"Y'know Pap, I'm not really your-" You cut yourself off when you saw Sans shaking his head vigorously. Neither of you could really decide how you wanted to deal with that recurring misunderstanding, but now wasn't the time, regardless. You put on a forced smile, "Make yourselves at home."

Undyne readily obliged, jumping onto the couch with enough force to make you fear for its well-being.

"Hey, punk! Nice throw pillows!" She commented with a grin before hurling a pillow at your face. You were lucky you weren't currently using your cane, because you didn't think you would've been able to catch it one-handed.

"Yeah, yeah," you threw the pillow back at her. Neither you nor Sans were great decorators, but in your boredom over the past couple of weeks, the two of you had made a slight effort to fix the place up. You now had pillows for the couch, a ghastly orange rug, and a rack of test tubes sitting on the coffee table. The tubes were filled with interesting-looking rocks and flowers that you'd found around camp. It wasn't much, but the room at least felt a little warmer with the personal touches.

"Oh! T-that's a neat idea…" Alphys said as she crouched next to the table, examining the test tubes. You were about to answer her, but were distracted by the sight of Papyrus picking Sans up by the armpits and holding him out at arms-length.

"Brother, I cannot get over how short you are now! What will you do once Frisk outgrows you?! That will be so embarrassing!" Sans' eyes went wide at being picked up so abruptly, but he seemed to force himself to relax in his brother's hold. He grinned and shrugged,

"Well, hey… everyone likes short people. We never _look down_ on anyone." He winked, and Papyrus roared,

"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! Not only are you wearing that ridiculous shirt, but now you're punning again?!" He plopped Sans on the couch and crossed his arms, frowning. Sans sunk heavily into the cushions, looking like he was about to become one with the furniture. You limped over to Papyrus and nudged him,

"I'd love to make a joke, too, but I guess I came up _short._ "

"UGH!" Pap shoved you good-naturedly, then immediately realized his mistake and grabbed your arm to steady you. You barely avoided falling over. Before Papyrus could apologize and make the situation awkward, you smirked and pushed him back in retaliation.

"YEAH! FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!" Undyne cheered loudly from the other side of the couch.

"No fighting indoors," A motherly voice said sternly from the front door. All five of you whipped your heads around to look, and saw that Toriel and Frisk had let themselves inside. The kid immediately hurried to kick off their boots and unwrap the scarf from their neck, throwing all of their winter gear into the corner as they stripped it off.

"Hello, Queen Toriel!" Papyrus exclaimed cheerfully, then narrowed his eyes, "And human! Why are you wearing so much armour?! Have _you_ been fighting?!"

"Fighting off the cold, perhaps," Toriel said with a chuckle, "It is getting chilly, and I have heard that humans get ill when exposed to frigid temperatures…"

"Yeah, but you might've gone a little overboard," You commented, trying not to laugh as you watched Frisk remove layer after layer of sweaters and coats. Poor kid must've been steaming under all of that.

"Oh…" Toriel bit her lip, then added, "Well, if that is the case, then I suppose you do not have to wear all of that on the walk back, my child." Frisk huffed, finally left in their usual striped shirt and jeans, both of which they'd outgrown months ago.

Sans, who seemed to have had enough of you walking around without your cane, reached forward, grabbed your wrist, and pulled you down onto the couch with him.

"Oof!" You flopped down onto the lumpy cushions and glared at him, "Just a minute, I should go grab the food now that everyone's here…"

"I'll get it," Sans shot up from the couch before you could even think about standing. You rolled your eyes. Alphys and Undyne shared a knowing look, and you blushed.

"Uh, Frisk! Why don't you pick out a game for us to play after dinner?" _Anything to change the subject,_ You thought. The kid brightened up and made a beeline for the stack of video games piled haphazardly next to your TV.

Papyrus joined in, picking up all of the games Frisk discarded and asking you endless questions about them. Undyne leapt off of the couch to take a closer look at Grand Theft Auto, which had you spluttering to explain how it wasn't a very family-friendly game. Undyne's eyes widened when she read the warnings on the back,

"Oh my god?! I had no idea they made games like this! That's AWESOME! Babe, come look at this…"

Everyone was thoroughly entrenched in your video game collection by the time Sans reemerged with the food. Again, you felt his magic resonating with you before you even saw the plates hovering all around him. He gently lowered them all onto the coffee table, and your guests promptly descended on the food like ravenous wolves. Or at least, Undyne, Papyrus, and Frisk did. But even Alphys seemed eager to eat. When you asked about it, Papyrus replied proudly through a mouthful of caserole,

"We didn't eat lunch because we wanted to save our hunger for your superb cooking! It was my idea!"

"It was a _dumb_ idea," Undyne mumbled, but amended, "But actually kinda worth it… this rocks!"

"Ah, you can thank Toriel for that," You said, gesturing helplessly to Toriel as you struggled to accept the undeserved compliment. The Queen took a mock bow before taking her own plate, and Frisk said something with their one available hand. You looked at Sans, who chuckled and translated for you,

"Kid says they had lunch, but they're always hungry."

"It is true," Toriel lamented, then ruffled Frisk's hair, "They must be going through a growth spurt… I have never seen a child eat so much!" You were sure that was partially Toriel's fault for letting them eat whatever they wanted, but you didn't voice that thought. It was true that Frisk was not only shooting up in height, but getting a little pudgy on top of it. It wasn't any of your business, though.

"H-hey, um… i-is there any ch-cheese in this?" Alphys asked nervously, poking her already half-eaten meal with a fork.

"Nope… you're allergic, right?" You thought you remembered that from one of your late-night lab conversations back when you were working with her on the epinephrine. She nodded, looking relieved.

The rest of the meal passed similarly, with light conversation ebbing and flowing between friends. Frisk had picked out a racing game for you all to play after you were full, and it turned out to be an excellent choice. Unfortunately, only three of you could play at a time, since you only had four controllers and one of them was broken. You played against Papyrus and Frisk first to show everyone how it was done, and beat the two of them handily. The controllers were passed around between everyone after that. You'd put more time into this game than you would've liked to admit, so you easily won every time a controller ended up in your lap. Frisk was the best after you, and you had the sneaking suspicion that they'd played this game before. The monsters were all pretty bad, but Toriel and Sans were by far the worst. They were so bad that neither of them ever managed to beat an NPC on the lowest difficulty level. It turned into a competition between the two of them to see who could be the worst, much to everyone else's dismay when a match lasted over fifteen minutes while both of them refused to move. Toriel and Sans were banned from playing after that.

It was just… fun. There was no catch; you were just having a good time. You all played until eight, when Toriel promptly declared it was Frisk's bedtime. Everyone trickled out after that, leaving you and Sans alone with the dirty dishes and a disheveled living room.

"I've got the dishes," You declared with a smile. You actually quite liked doing the dishes; the warm water and the smell of dish soap calmed you for some reason. Plus, when you were digging out your PS4 the other day, you'd found something in the crate that would make the chore even better.

Before getting your hands wet, you plugged your ipod into the speakers you'd set up on the counter and grinned ear to ear when your music began to play. You hadn't listened to music in so long… you'd have to show this to your friends the next time they came over. Monsters didn't have much in the way of music; the depressive mood in the Underground hadn't exactly been conducive to creative endeavors.

You flipped through your library at random, searching for a good song to clean to. You found one that wasn't quite in line with your usual fare… in fact, you considered it a guilty pleasure song. You glanced over your shoulder, and were surprised to see that Sans wasn't in the living room anymore. Everything was already clean and in order (well, as clean as it was before your guests had arrived), so maybe he'd gone to bed already.

You shrugged and pressed "play," laughing breathily to yourself as the familiar, upbeat tune sounded throughout the kitchen. You turned it down a little, hoping Sans wouldn't hear it and make fun of you for how cheesy the song was. On second thought, the odds were pretty good that he'd heard it get stuck in your head at least once as Orion, so he probably already knew.

You swung your hips and turned the sink on, humming to the opening of the song. You scrubbed the plate you were holding in time with the tune, shooting a look over your shoulder one more time before singing quietly along,

"But maybe all you need is someone to trust, maybe all you need is someone,  
Maybe all you need is someone to trust, maybe all you need is someone…"

You took a deep breath and belted out the chorus,

"And I won't let you down, no I won't let you down!  
I won't let you down, my love,  
I won't let you down, no I won't let you down!  
I won't let you down, my love…  
No I. Won't. Let. You down!  
Won't let you down… won't let you down…"

You began to run out of breath as you overestimated your singing skills, and went back to humming. You realized you'd been cleaning the same plate for too long, and set it aside on the counter.

Suddenly, you felt skeletal arms sneak around your waist. You jumped and let out an undignified squeaking noise. Much to your mortification, Sans started to sing along where you left off,

"And you've got what the whole world wants,  
So strap that armour tighter on,  
Double on down like it's gonna make you free…"

"Ugh, so you _could_ hear whenever I had a song stuck in my head… I'm sorry you had to go through that hell," You apologized, only half-joking. Sans chuckled, then continued singing while swaying both of your bodies to the beat,

"But maybe all you need is someone to trust, maybe all you need is someone,  
Maybe all you need is someone to trust, maybe all you need is someone…"

Without warning, he took your hand and spun you out to the side. You yelled wordlessly, then laughed as he caught your other hand and kept you from falling backwards,

"And I won't let you down, no I won't let you down!  
I won't let you down, my love,  
I won't let you down, no I won't let you down!  
I won't let you down, my love…"

The two of you sung and danced together, with you being a terrible dancer and a mediocre singer, and Sans being a mediocre dancer and terrible singer. So you balanced each other out… combined, you were just kinda bad at both. You kept the dancing simple, mostly just swinging your hips and clapping at the right parts of the song. You took a turn spinning Sans around, and he spun you again, too. Even though you didn't have your cane, you never stumbled. Sans somehow always knew exactly where and when to support you.

The impromptu karaoke-and-dance session was brought to an abrupt close when you caught sight of movement in your living room.

"Frisk!" You exclaimed, your cheeks reddening. You hadn't even heard the door open over the music, but there Frisk was. They looked at you, then looked at Sans, and back to you. They gestured helplessly to the corner of the room, then ran over there and grabbed the garment that was laying on the ground. Kid must've forgotten one of the many coats they'd worn over here. They balled up the coat in their arms and shot you one last look, wiggling their eyebrows at the sight of Sans' hands on your waist. With that, they ran out of the house and slammed the door.

It took a few moments to process what had happened, but when you did, both you and Sans burst into laughter. During the fiasco, the song had ended and the next started playing, but you hardly noticed. You were too busy snorting and giggling at how ridiculous your life was now.


	5. Frankenstein's Human

The next day, you woke up to the sight of a world covered in white.

Record heats had meant that there had been little to no snow on the ground until now. Though there had been little flurries every now and then, nothing had ever stuck. So it was a surprise when you looked outside and saw at least eight inches covering the camp.

You shook Sans awake and watched his expression carefully as you ushered him to the window. His face lit up; you knew he loved the snow. It was part of why he'd dreamed of moving to Snowdin as a kid. He never said it, but he was a sucker for curling up with a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate while watching the snow fall.

"Let's eat breakfast and go check it out," You suggested with a grin, feeling more excited about snow than you'd felt since you were a kid. You'd never liked it much, yourself; it was always such a struggle for you to walk through thick snow, and you'd always been frustrated when the other kids could run around and play in it. But Sans' happiness was infectious, and you knew that your friends wouldn't let you be left out if they did decide to play in the snow.

"I'll make pancakes," Sans volunteered before dashing to the kitchen, moving with a quickness you rarely saw out of him. You smiled fondly and followed him more slowly, grabbing your cane as you went.

The pancakes were as misshapen as always, but still good. You both liked to drown your food in syrup, so everything was a sticky mess by the time you were finished. You made Sans wash his hands before answering the front door, which someone was knocking on impatiently.

"Hey kiddo," Sans greeted Frisk, who was looking adorable all bundled up in their striped, winter gear. You watched from the dining table as they signed something that you didn't understand. Sans poked his head out the door and looked around,

"Sure... but where's Pap?" Frisk furrowed their little brows and made a quick sign. They paused, then amended it with a longer series of hand motions. You really needed to pick up a book on sign language eventually.

"Hmm… 'kay. You go play, we'll be out in a minute," With that, Frisk ran off, and Sans shut the door again. He shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered back over to you, looking deep in thought.

"So, what was that about?" You prompted, and Sans looked surprised. He probably forgot that you couldn't read his thoughts anymore, which was something both of you did often.

"Oh, kid just wants us to join their snowball fight. Everyone's out there, 'cept for Pap. Guess he's got a cold, or something," Sans shrugged, and you frowned. He continued, "The kid says it's no big deal, but I'll probably go over there and check on 'im."

"I'll go with," You declared, as if that was even in question. You felt a gnawing guilt in your chest. Was this your fault, somehow? "Do monsters even get colds?" You asked casually while stacking your empty plate on top of Sans'. You didn't want him to know that you were nervous. He seemed to be able to tell, anyway.

"Yeah, 'course. It's nothing… I just wanna make sure he's getting his rest." Unlike you, Sans didn't seem worried. You forced yourself to relax; Sans knew better than you when it came to this. If he said it was nothing, then it was nothing.

Sure enough, as soon as you threw on your coat and took a shortcut down the street, you saw that Papyrus was fine. A little sniffly and upset that he wouldn't get to play in the snow with everyone else, but fine. He was wrapped in two layers of blankets and huddled in the living room, playing Go Fish with Toriel.

"What are you two doing here?! You should be enjoying the snow!" Papyrus protested, his voice a little nasally.

"You sure, bro?" Sans asked, shuffling his feet.

"Of course! The Great Papyrus will be just fine! Nyeh heh-" He cut himself off with a hacking cough. You and Sans glanced at each other skeptically.

"...We'll come back in an hour to keep you company, how about that?" You conceded. Behind Papyrus, Toriel nodded gratefully. As fun as it was to play games with Papyrus, she probably had other things to do, too. The sick skeleton deliberated for a moment.

"Alright, that seems fair! I will see you in an hour, then!"

With that decided, you and Sans ventured back outside…

...And you were immediately hit in the face with a snowball.

"Hey, punk! Think fast!" You barely heard Undyne yelling through your own spluttering as you rubbed freezing snow out of your eyes. Sans grabbed your arm and dragged you through a shortcut, barely keeping you from getting pelted a second time. When you could finally see again, Sans was frowning and staring at a point over your shoulder. You whirled around just in time to see Sans use his magic to drop an entire pile of snow on top of Undyne. A muffled scream of rage could barely be heard through the mound of snow. The dog family, who had been chasing snowballs that Frisk threw for them, stopped what they were doing and looked around wildly.

You snorted, then took Sans' wrist and dragged him behind the nearest house before the dogs could figure out who'd buried their leader.

"I think you might've started a war," You commented as you peeked around the side of the vacant house. Greater Dog and Endogeny were digging out the snow around Undyne while Dogami and Dogaressa pulled on the fish woman's arms. Doggo was sniffing the air, while Lesser Dog was still begging Frisk to throw more snowballs.

Sans pulled you back and gave you an intense look. He reached up and brushed some snow off of your face. Your skin was still burning from the cold, so you could barely feel it when he swiped his thumb over your cheek.

"She deserved it," He said smugly.

"Yeah… but still. We should build a fort, or something."

Making a snow fort had never been easier with Sans on your team. He erected a wall of snow in a half-circle around the two of you. With your backs to the side of the house, that meant you were protected on all sides. As soon as the dogs found you, you began your assault. You threw snowballs at them from the front while Sans caused snow to fly at them from the back. It was so effective that Frisk waved their white mitten in surrender and asked to join your team.

Soon after that, though, you grew tired. It hit you like a ton of bricks, and you found yourself unable to aid in the snowball-throwing effort anymore. You sat back on your butt and leaned against the side of the house, feeling more than a little dizzy.

"Hey, you okay?' Sans' voice echoed, like he was speaking to you through a long pipe.

"Just… tired…" You panted. But, even as you said that, you weren't sure if it was true. This didn't seem normal. You suddenly felt way too hot in your winter gear, and your vision was blackening on the edges as though you were about to pass out.

Why was this happening so quickly?

Fear gripped your chest for a split second before everything went black.

.

.

Black. Everything was black and cold… Well, not cold, just the absence of warmth. The absence of anything. You tried to hold your hands up to your face, just to see _something_ , but there was nothing even then. You had no hands; no body.

But from the absolute nothingness came a buzzing, static noise. You weren't sure if your mind was just making it up to fill the space, but did it really matter? From the static came whispers, and from the whispers came twisting shapes in the darkness. Walls, and a floor, and soft, green light to bounce off of them.

You knew where you were now.

"Gaster?" Your voice came as echoing whispers in the void, bending and distorting into something that didn't sound like you at all.

The whispers talked back.

"Novice… better than ever… master of necromancy…"

You whirled around, looking for the exit. You found the open, gray door directly behind you, and caught a brief glimpse of the interior of the abandoned barn before the door swung shut with a loud _BANG!_

"Let me… let me… let me…" The whispers sounded agitated.

"What do you want?" You asked, in a brief moment of bravery, "You said you didn't need my help… so what, then?"

Suddenly, the walls and floor seemed to move around you. You never moved, but were transported against your will to the opposite end of the hallway. There was another door at this end; not gray, but made of the same, insubstantial material as the rest of the void.

"Count your blessings… let me… _let me..._ "

Slowly, the door began to creak open. But, before you could see what was on the other side, everything went black again.

.

.

"...happened?"

"Dunno, they just passed out. I don't get it… Pap just healed them yesterday. They should be fine 'til at least tomorrow."

"Perhaps this is unrelated to their condition."

"What're the odds of that?"

You felt groggy, achy… too weak to move. You saw bright light through your closed eyelids, but didn't have the strength to open them.

"Maybe they caught whatever Papyrus has? Even a simple cold might affect them more profoundly than a healthy person."

"Can humans even catch our colds?"

"Doubt it."

Sans. That voice belonged to Sans. You wanted to reach out to him, but couldn't. As though sensing your silent distress, he laid a cold hand on your forehead. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again,

"Tori, could you try to heal them? I don't want to worry Papyrus, and he might hurt himself if he tries to use his magic in his state…"

"Of course. I will try."

.

.

There was a child in front of you.

"I told you it wouldn't work~" They said in a sing-song voice. Frisk - no, Chara - sauntered toward you with a big smile on their face.

You looked around and blinked, confused and disoriented. You were in a kid's room, but it wasn't Frisk's. This room was smaller, and had mold growing on the walls. Someone had tried to cover it up with crude, childish drawings and macaroni art.

"What's happening?" You asked, unsure if this was real or if you were making it up in your mind. You'd heard someone say something about you being sick… maybe this was all some kind of fever dream?

"You're dying," They answered bluntly. You reeled back, your heart pounding. "I told you, didn't I? I warned you not to do this… I was actually being _nice_! But it was all for nothing, as usual. Clearly, I shouldn't have bothered."

You shook your head numbly. You felt… weird. Was this what dying felt like? Your heart was racing, so you sat down on the floor. Chara followed suit, sitting down across from you and folding their legs.

"Souls are intricate. Complicated. You can't just add and subtract them however you'd like and expect to come out the same person you were before."

"I don't understand," You admitted as you reached up with one hand to clutch at your aching chest. Chara rolled their eyes,

"Of course you don't. Do you even see yourself? Do you even know who you are anymore?" You weren't sure you were fully following this conversation. What did this have to do with you dying?

The intense feeling of your heartbeat pounding wildly in your ribs finally gave way. You heard three clicks as your soul burst outward from your body-

.

.

Before you could see your soul, you were ripped from the dream by an intense, sharp fear. You tried to scream… fuck, _fuck_ , you were scared. What was happening?! This was all too much. You wanted to cry, you wanted to jerk away from whatever the hell was doing this to you... but you couldn't move at all.

Soon, thankfully, it stopped. You were left with the residual panic electrifying your skin, enough to put you on edge. That brief moment of primal fear had had no cause as far as you knew, and that only made you more uneasy.

Through your haze of confusion, you heard Toriel's voice as though from a distance,

"I am sorry… I still cannot heal them. Their body seems to resist my magic, no matter how hard I try." There was a collective sigh in the room. There were many people around you.

"Well… we gotta bring them to Papyrus then, right?" Undyne. She sounded anxious.

"I-I c-could get s-some of the leftover epinephrine… i-if you th-think that might h-help…"

.

.

...A rhythmic beeping. The sterile, cold smell of a hospital. Your mind felt groggy, and everything ached horribly. Dammit… if you were in a hospital, then Sans must've sent you away to be treated by humans.

You forced your eyes open, and were met with nothing but darkness. There was stuff covering your face… you reached up and yanked it all off. Something heavy and plastic fell to the floor, and you were left holding a sheet that had been covering your eyes. You surged up, trying to stand before you were even fully conscious. You didn't get very far; your breath caught in your throat as sharp pain radiated through your body. You couldn't even manage to sit up straight before you were forced to lie back down or risk passing out from the agonizing pain.

A sharp scream rang through the room, and you flinched. You turned your head to look for the source of the sound and saw… Alphys? She was covering her mouth with both hands while staring at you with wide eyes. It took you a heartbeat and a half to realize you weren't in a hospital… you were in the True Lab. Relief washed over you, but there was still one thing missing.

"Alphys? Where's Sans?" Your voice was a little slurred, but you thought you got your point across. Which was why you didn't understand why Alphys was staring at you like that. Like she'd seen a ghost.

You waited three heartbeats before deciding to take matters into your own hands. You brought your shaky hands together and tore off the heart rate monitor on your finger. Only then did you notice the IV line attached to the same arm… Damn, how sick had you been? You pushed yourself up into a sitting position, but more slowly this time. You gritted your teeth and closed your eyes, feeling like you were about to be sick.

"U-um, w-well… no, d-don't get up! Y-you're, um… hurt. You sh-shouldn't move..." Alphys stuttered, but you didn't heed her advice. After taking a moment to compose yourself, you swung your legs over the side of the metal table you were on.

"What's going on? Where's Sans?" You brought one hand up to rub your pounding head, but were distracted from the pain when you felt… hair? You froze. Why was your hair so long? How long had you been out?

"Something went wrong… I need to talk to Sans!" Your shrill voice echoed strangely in the room. You twisted around, searching for Sans, but there was no one else here. In your flailing, your foot slammed into a small, metal table by your bedside, knocking it over with a loud clatter. The sound prompted you to look down. Your attention was drawn to your own body and you saw that, aside from the discarded sheet in your lap, you were nearly naked. You would've been embarrassed if you weren't so consumed with worry.

"P-please, don't panic!" Alphys sounded on the edge of hysteria, herself. Something about this was starting to feel familiar to you… "Um, w-what's the last thing you r-remember?" You paused. This was wrong. Cold dread trickled upward, starting at your toes and pooling in your belly. Your gaze moved instinctively to the door, which was open just a crack. Even when Alphys came to stand in front of you, trying to get your attention, you continued to stare vacantly at it. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you realized nothing would happen until you answered.

"This is… wrong. I-I'm not supposed to be here…" You clutched the sheet in your lap, your fingers spasming as you trembled with fear, "This already happened! I'm not soulless, you have to believe me!" The echo in the room grew louder - your voice carried on long after you'd finished speaking.

Despite your pleading, the door flew open to reveal a giant, hulking monster. It stood, crouched in the doorway, with blood dripping off of the dead feathers clinging to its wings. Its deformed skull, frozen in a permanent half-smile, stared at you with a hateful expression. You saw loathing etched in every inch of its body, but especially in the sneer it gave you before raising its sharp talons.

Orion's name was on your lips, but you didn't have time to speak it before your world jerked sharply and everything snapped to black.

.

.

"No, I can do it! I-I'll just try again!" Papyrus' voice swirled around you in the darkness. You didn't know what was real anymore, and you wished everything would just stop for a minute. You needed some peace and quiet.

"Pap…" Sans was here. You felt hands on your body, and the presence of too many people hovering around you. You wanted them all to go away; you just wanted Sans.

"Papyrus, it is alright. You are ill, and you will only make yourself weaker if you continue trying to heal them."

"But they need me! I'm the only one who can make them feel better!"

"That's why you gotta get some rest! Even the toughest warriors need some down-time. You need to take care of yourself before you can start fixing everyone else… right, babe?"

"R-right…" There was a pause before Papyrus spoke again,

"...I suppose you are right." The relief in the room was palpable, "But… can my sibling stay here with me? I would feel better…"

"'Course, bro," Sans laid a hand on your arm, "We'll both stay. It'll be like a sleepover."

"That is a great idea! We should do this again when the human is conscious and I am not sneezing all over the place!"

"...Yeah, we should."

.

.

There was a mirror standing in front of you.

You remembered this. For the first time since this nightmare started, you actually felt relatively safe. You _knew_ this was a dream, because you remembered having it before. Nothing could hurt you here.

You were able to look around this time, though it didn't do you much good. Aside from the giant mirror spanning the entire length of one wall, there was only one other object in the room. A table, right in the center. The room was foggy and dark, so you couldn't get a very good look at it, but you could see that it was oddly-shaped. There were things dangling from the table… leather straps?

That was too unnerving, so you turned your attention back to the mirror. You were naked again, like last time. The indistinct mass on your back was there still, but you were less bothered by it now. It sat there tamely, just barely peeking over your shoulder.

What caught your attention more than anything else was a bright light that pulsed in your chest.

You took a couple of steps closer to the mirror, placing a hand over your sternum to cover the light. It was pulsing wildly out of sync with your heartbeat. You moved your hand outward, drawing the light out from your body. With three clicks it was free, and you were left staring at a soul that didn't belong to you.

It was supposed to be your soul, but it didn't look like _yours_. The heart shape was large and bulging, like it was swollen and about to burst. Purple was intermixed with white, the colors swirling around each other in a hypnotizing dance. It looked more like Orion's soul than your own.

You didn't feel anything for it, in particular. It was neither good nor bad, but it certainly wasn't _you_. Even though you knew, logically, that it was yours, it was blatantly and intrinsically wrong. Parts were missing, foreign parts had been added, and it was all mixed together carelessly like some kind of child's science fair experiment.

You didn't think Chara was just talking about your body when they said you were dying.

"This isn't me…" You said out loud, but there was no one to listen. Your mutated soul kept pulsing, and your reflection simply stared back at you. You placed your palms on the mirror and leaned into it, but your reflection didn't copy you. The black fog closed in around it, and whispering voices seemed to come from the other side of the mirror.

"Why aren't you fighting it? Do something!" You banged your fist on the glass, but the version of you in the mirror did nothing. You were forced to watch helplessly as your reflection was swallowed by darkness, until even the white and purple glow of your soul had vanished.

You pressed your forehead against the black mirror and closed your eyes, waiting for the darkness to consume you, too.


	6. Memento Mori

Sans was hunched awkwardly over Papyrus' bed, his head resting on his crossed arms. He struggled to keep his eyes open… This was day three of his silent vigil over your bedside. He couldn't leave, couldn't even sleep, for fear that you'd pass away when he wasn't looking. He needed to be on constant alert in case he had to do something drastic to save your soul.

It was a little better when Papyrus was awake. In those times, his brother's cheerful attitude could lighten the mood somewhat. Even when that failed, Sans could at least feel like Papyrus was in this with him. After all, his brother never left the room, either. But at least Papyrus got to sleep sometimes, as he was doing right now.

If Sans wasn't so sick with worry, he would've taken a picture of you and Papyrus right now to use as blackmail material later. The two of you had shared a bed for the past three days with no issue, but for some reason Papyrus had gotten more cuddly than usual last night. He had his face buried in your short, cropped hair and one arm thrown over your shoulders. You, meanwhile, were dead to the world. Just like you had been since the day of the first snowfall.

He'd wondered a lot over the past few days if there was something he should've done differently. Maybe he shouldn't have let you stay out in the cold for so long. Maybe he should've recognized that Papyrus being sick would have an effect on you. Hell… you were dead. The only reason you were walking and talking was because you were still under Papyrus' magic. Of course your life would be in danger when Papyrus was too weak to keep up that continuous bond…

Probably, the only way to fix this was to go back in time and refuse your request to cross the barrier together. He'd been so ready to sacrifice you to save his species, but he knew without even having to ask himself that he wouldn't do it again if given a second chance. He'd rather keep the monsters trapped Underground for an eternity than put you through this hell.

What good was the freedom doing them, anyway? The vast majority of monsters were still living Underground, just as trapped by their fear of humans as they had been by the barrier. And the poor saps who were on the surface were confined by narrow borders… Fenced in like cattle. Sans didn't like to get involved in any of this political crap - that was your area of interest, not his. But he couldn't help wondering if it would've been better for everyone to remain in the previous timeline.

It certainly would've been better for you. You would never have had to die, for one thing. He could still feel your warm blood on his hands… Sometimes, he wondered if that moment haunted him more than it did you. You lived in the moment more than he did; not as bogged down in the past. It worked for you.

But, as good as you were at moving forward, he knew you were still upset about what was going on. Your poor health, your parents abandoning you... They were your only family, and he knew from experiencing your dreams and memories that you loved them dearly. Sure, you would've missed them if you had to remain trapped in the Underground forever, but wouldn't that have been preferable to this? He knew firsthand what it felt like to be abandoned by a parent, after all…

He had to admit, though… his wishful thinking was not entirely unselfish. Of course he had his own reasons to long for the last timeline, his brother being chief among those. He never dared speak it out loud, but he wanted _his_ brother back, not this version. He was damn lucky that Papyrus was even remotely similar to the one he remembered, he knew that. But there were subtle differences that drove him mad. The way he wore his Royal Guard armour everywhere. His inexplicable love for oatmeal. The healing powers. The necromancy.

It would just never be the same. Nothing would. At least your family and friends _remembered_ you; Sans had no one. He felt like a stranger, floating aimlessly through a world that cared about him even less than the previous one. He didn't know what to do with himself, especially when you weren't here to guide him.

He didn't even want to think about it, but a part of him… a _large_ part of him… missed being Orion. Not for the power, but for the ability to _let go_. To let you take control for a while. To be able to rest and have no one even know he was gone. It was counter-intuitive; on one hand, he wanted to be more involved in this world, but on the other, he missed being able to disappear whenever he wanted. It didn't make sense, but it was what he felt.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then shot up ramrod straight when he remembered that he had to be watchful. How long could he stay awake? What if you died and your soul passed on while he was sleeping? Maybe… maybe it would be better to take your soul now, before he lost the battle to keep his eyes open. But, even as he considered it, he knew he couldn't do that. Just as surely as he knew he couldn't go back in time and fix his old mistakes. He was stuck… doomed to leave your life in the hands of fate.

Fortunately, all of his painful deliberation came to nothing. His attention was drawn sharply to your fingers, which twitched for the first time in three days. A smile crept onto his face as he watched your slow return to consciousness. You sniffed, your brow furrowing and your nose scrunching up adorably. One of your legs stretched out to escape the confines of the many blankets you were wrapped in. Eventually, your eyes opened, and confusion was written all over your expression. You twisted around to look at Papyrus cuddling you, and Sans openly laughed.

"What the hell did I miss?" You asked in a voice hoarse with disuse.

Before he answered, Sans reached out and placed a careful hand on your forehead. You went cross-eyed trying to follow his movements. Miraculously, your temperature felt normal.

"You fell down… but I think you'll be alright now," He reassured you. Quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping skeleton. His eyes fell on Papyrus, who was dead to the world. He couldn't be sure, but he thought his brother's throat wasn't rattling as badly anymore. You followed his gaze, then reached up to pull Sans' hand off of your head. Instead of letting go, you held onto his fingers in a tight grip.

"What happened?" You asked, more somberly this time. Sans brushed his thumb over your knuckles and sighed softly.

"Not sure exactly. We think Papyrus being sick must've affected you somehow. It's hard to know for sure, though… this necromancy stuff isn't an exact science." ...And that unnerved Sans to no end. No one seemed to know how any of this worked, and the only person who could be considered an expert was slowly going insane trapped in the void. How was he supposed to protect you if he had no way of understanding what was going on?

You bit your lip and averted your eyes, choosing to stare at Papyrus' arm laying over your shoulders instead. It was in moments like these that Sans wished he could read your mind again. You were obviously deep in thought about something, but he couldn't decipher what. After a few moments of silence, he got curious enough to ask,

"What're you thinking about?" He hunched forward and rested his chin on your bed. Papyrus' deep breaths seemed louder than usual as he waited for your response. Your answer came in a rush, spilling out all at once in a hushed whisper,

"I had some really weird dreams. I guess it was probably nothing, but I just feel weird, in general. Like… I don't really know what I'm doing." Sans wasn't expecting that, and didn't know what to say. He expected you to wake up tired and hungry, not in the middle of an existential crisis.

"It's probably just your condition. You're not feeling well… of course you feel weird. Things'll get better once you start feeling better." There was an edge of desperation in his voice. The truth was, he felt it, too. Weird. Wrong. Detached. From the world, from himself… he didn't really know. But part of what was keeping him going was the knowledge that you, at least, had your shit together. If you were feeling as lost as he was, then there was no hope for either of you.

"It's not going to get better," You said tersely, "This is as good as it gets. We just have to hope Papyrus doesn't get sick again."

"Don't say that!" He snapped, his voice raising more than he would've liked. Both of you looked at Papyrus, who shifted in his sleep. When it was clear he wasn't going to wake up, Sans added more quietly, "...We'll just have to take it day by day." You nodded, your lips pressed tightly together. After a moment of tense silence, you admitted,

"I'm surprised you didn't ship me off to some hospital. But I'm glad, don't get me wrong." Sans sighed and dragged his free hand over his face,

"I thought about it, but you're right. The humans aren't gonna be able to do jack shit, and it's safer to keep you here with me." That came out sounding more possessive than he'd intended, but you nodded. You played with his hand, turning it over and tracing your fingers over his. He offered no resistance. You sighed and closed your eyes for a moment, as though gathering your strength. Then, you got up on one elbow, causing Papyrus' arm to slip off of you, and bonked your forehead against Sans'. He closed his eyes, too, concentrating on the feeling of your breath against his face. If he stayed like this, he could almost pretend that you weren't dead.

"What're we doing, Sans?"

He didn't have an answer. Luckily, he was saved from having to come up with one. Papyrus must've been jostled too much by your movements and finally woke up. He sniffed and shifted around under the blankets, his arms stretching up as he yawned. You pulled away from Sans to watch. When he opened his eyes to see you awake, Papyrus' face lit up.

"Sibling! You're okay… just like I knew you would be!" He threw his arms around you in a bone-crushing hug, and you laughed. Sans couldn't not smile.

"How're you feeling, Pap?" He asked his brother, but he was willing to bet a hundred gold that he already knew the answer.

"Much better, in fact! My nose isn't all sniffly anymore," Papyrus proclaimed before abruptly jumping out of bed. You let out a wordless cry of protest as the blankets were ripped from you, "Come on! Now that we are both feeling better, there is no excuse to lay in bed all day!" He snatched up your cane from the corner of the room and handed it to you as he pulled you to your feet. Sans stood up, too, ready to catch you if you fell. You wobbled a little on your feet, but didn't fall over.

"Uh… do you think you could heal me, Pap? Maybe after breakfast?" You asked, your cheeks stained with a light blush. Sans knew you didn't enjoy asking for help, but you'd swallow your pride when you had to.

"Of course!" Papyrus said with confidence. He patted your head in an imitation of what Orion used to do to him. You shoved him away with a good-natured smile.

Things seemed like they might be alright… for now, anyway. As he watched Papyrus bound out of the room, he couldn't help but to wonder when it would all come crashing down again.

You limped to the doorway and looked over your shoulder, pausing when you saw that Sans wasn't right behind you,

"You coming?" Sans stared at you for a beat, then asked,

"Are you sure you're alright?" You blinked. A forced smile spread across your face, and it just about broke Sans' heart.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

.

.

End of INTEGRITY


	7. The Clarion Call

PART 2 - JUSTICE

Life went on. Now that Papyrus was over his cold, you, too, healed quickly. You were back to living in your own house by Sunday afternoon, and feeling like normal by Monday. Sans slept for nearly 24 hours, crashing on the couch the instant the two of you stepped foot into your own home. You didn't need to exchange words with him to know that he'd been keeping himself awake the entire three days you were sick. Despite Papyrus' disapproval, you let him sleep for as long as he wanted.

Something between you and Papyrus felt different. Not necessarily bad-different, just different. You were bound together by this invisible force that no one understood, and you could no longer ignore it. But you didn't talk about it, either. It was in the way your eyes settled on him whenever you were lost in thought. The way he stuck by your side, even when you retreated back to your own house and Sans immediately fell asleep. He stayed, playing video games with the volume off while you rushed to read through that stack of meeting minutes Asgore had given you last week.

If it was anyone… _anyone_ other than Papyrus, you would've been deeply uncomfortable with this. You didn't know how it felt from his end, but you had the feeling that he had more control over you than you would've liked. You didn't even think Papyrus knew what he was capable of. If his health affected you so strongly, what about his will? Could he make you do things that you didn't want to do? Necromancy did not exist to bring people back to life and have them go on their merry ways, after all. Its purpose was to make bodies do the caster's bidding. Was it different for you, since it wasn't _just_ necromancy keeping you alive? Or was it just Papyrus' ignorance and benevolence keeping you from being what was essentially his slave?

You wished you knew if he was thinking the same things as you, but you didn't dare ask. You didn't want to burden him with this if he hadn't yet thought of it on his own. Ironically, you suspected he was thinking the same thing about you. But you couldn't be sure, so you didn't bring it up.

The opportunity passed once Sans finally woke up late Monday afternoon. If you were hesitant to talk to Papyrus about this, then you were even less inclined to worry Sans with it. If he had hair, he'd already be losing it with his constant concern about your health. The fact was that you trusted Papyrus with this wholeheartedly. It was best, then, to just move on with your lives.

The next day was Tuesday, and you were going to go to that meeting with Asgore and the humans come hell or high water. You hadn't had time to read all of the previous meetings… Not even close. But if you didn't go, the humans would ask why. Asgore would have to make something up, and then you'd look even more suspicious than you already did.

Besides, you had things you wanted to say, and you couldn't bear waiting another week to say them.

As you walked purposefully through a worn path in the forest, Sans' arm brushed up against yours. You looked over at him, and he raised his brows at you in a silent question. You grinned reassuringly, then winked for extra emphasis. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Would you two lovebirds hurry it up?" Undyne shouted from up ahead, where she was keeping pace with Asgore despite having significantly shorter legs. You checked your phone for the time anxiously.

"We got time… she can wait." Sans grunted, and he was right. The meeting didn't start for another fifteen minutes; you'd arrive at a perfectly acceptable time. No need to rush yourself and be all flustered and out of breath when you got there.

You went over the main points you wanted to bring up in your head while you walked, reciting them over and over until you were suddenly at the base of the Northwest tower. Sans stopped short of the stairs, and you turned to face him. He had his hands shoved in his pockets, but you could tell that they were clenched into fists.

"I'll just chill here, then." Anyone else would've thought Sans sounded perfectly normal, but you could hear the tension in his voice. You touched his elbow and smiled at him again,

"Sounds good… see you in a bit." The truth was that you and Sans had never been apart since the separation of your souls. Not once. The greatest distance that had ever been between you was when you were in different rooms in the same house. Even then, you always made sure to leave the door between you open. But now, Sans wasn't allowed to go where you were going. It made no sense for him to attend one of these meetings, and you were sure the humans wouldn't allow it.

"Yup," He said, and you let your hand fall back to your side. Your fingers clenched tightly around the handle of your cane before you turned away and began to follow Asgore and Undyne up the stairs.

"What's the deal with you two, anyway?" Undyne fell back to ask once you were out of earshot of Sans. You looked back down at him, getting smaller and smaller the further you climbed. He looked lonely and lost down there by himself.

"Have you ever had your soul fused with someone else's and then ripped apart again?" You asked, tearing your eyes away from Sans. Undyne looked taken aback… a rare expression on her.

"Uh, no."

"Then mind your own business." Undyne's ears flattened, and you could've sworn you heard Asgore stifling a laugh in front of you.

"Alright, alright… jeez." Your friend rolled her eyes and turned back around, taking the steps two at a time until she'd caught back up with the King. You weren't taking any shit today… not from anyone.

"Good morning," You heard Asgore say as he reached the landing ahead of you. Once you finally climbed the last step, you were able to see who he was talking to. It was the usual crowd; Reives, Wolfe, and Charlie. The two agents were sitting next to each other on one side of the table, both dressed in sharp suites. Charlie sat off to the side, a computer open on his lap.

"Good morning, King Asgore…" Reives said with a professional smile. His gaze passed by Undyne and settled on you, "And hello to you, too," You nodded and forced yourself to smile. As you, Asgore, and Undyne took your places at the table, Reives continued to talk, "Feeling better, I hope?"

"Much better, thanks," You replied, knowing that you did look more healthy than the last time Reives had seen you. You hair had grown in enough that you didn't feel the need to wear a hat everywhere you went. Your skin was no longer translucent and, although you were still struggling to put on the weight you'd lost, your unhealthy thinness was easily hidden by the right clothes. Self-consciously, you smoothed a hand over your button-down shirt.

"Good to hear, good to hear…" Reives mused, and you glanced over at Charlie to see if he was writing this down. He was typing something, but you couldn't see what it was from your angle. "Why don't we get started, then?"

"Of course," Asgore spoke, and your nervous feet fiddled with the cane you'd set on the ground,

"First things first… Are there any extra supplies you would like from the next drop?"

"Yes, in fact. We were wondering if we could have some extra produce. The amount we are receiving now would be enough to sustain us if the supply drops arrived on time, but they often do not."

"Right… we could add an extra five pounds without overloading the helicopter. I would only ask for an extra gold piece in exchange."

"An entire gold coin?" Asgore asked skeptically. Reives licked his lips.

"Well, I would ask for less, but you can't exactly cut a gold coin in half."

"Why don't we pay an extra coin every other supply drop? It'd be like paying half a coin each time," Undyne piped up, but she sounded bored with herself. Reives' jaw clenched as he was forced to acknowledge her,

"Good idea… let's agree to that," He looked up at Charlie, as though making sure he was getting all of this down.

You leaned back in your seat, unimpressed by the conversation. Reives had effectively dodged the issue of the supply drops coming late, and Asgore didn't seem inclined to bring it up again. You could sense that he didn't want to step on any toes. You remembered what he had told you before, about how you should try to see things from the other side's perspective. Right now, it just looked like the humans were taking advantage of Asgore's soft heart. You didn't understand how this was the same guy who'd murdered children to escape the Underground. Desperate times called for desperate measures, you supposed, but wasn't this desperate, too?

"Well, if that's all-"

"Actually, I have a question," You interrupted Reives, who looked mildly surprised. He leaned forward to listen to you,

"Yes?" You sat up as straight as you could,

"Moving forward, what are your plans for integrating monsters into human society?" There was a beat of silence before the agent responded smoothly,

"Right now, we are working on maintaining peace between our species. That is of utmost importance."

"So no plans, then?" You asked, your cheeks growing hot from a combination of anxiety and righteous anger. Here was this man who was older, more powerful, and better dressed than you… How could you possibly have the nerve to argue with him? But you knew you had to. Asgore wanted you here for a reason; because you were the only person who could change things. You had to try, even though it terrified you. Even though you barely had the energy for any of this.

"None at the moment," Reives kept that fake smile plastered on his face.

"What about that one trip you took to South Ebott?" You couldn't bear to look at anyone else's reactions, so you just stared at Reives' icy blue eyes, "Why don't we plan another one of those?"

"That endeavor didn't exactly go well."

"Maybe not from your perspective," You said, casually referencing the gold situation. You could tell by his hardened expression that he knew what you were talking about. His smile widened,

"You certainly did your research, didn't you?" Before you could think of an answer, Reives continued, "It's interesting to me that you would choose to stay here to work for King Asgore. Most people would rather go home after going through such an ordeal."

You didn't know what to say. The way he talked make you certain that he was trying to get something out of you. He wanted you to say something incriminating. You chose your words carefully,

"Probably. But I don't think that's relevant to the topic at hand, do you?" Reives tapped his fingers on the table, and you held your breath.

"You're right… Forgive my curiosity. I have a daughter who's around your age, so I just wonder what it must be like on your parents."

Your throat constricted, and you clenched your hands together in your lap. Did he know about the crate? He had to… it was such a sick, low blow. Finally, you could no longer hold eye contact with him. You cast your gaze down to the table between you.

"Perhaps we could do something slightly more structured this time," Thankfully, Asgore jumped in to save you, "The day trip was a good idea in theory. The more the humans see us in person, the less afraid they will be. But walking through the streets may have been too much, too quickly. Instead, maybe we could hold a conference. A town meeting, of sorts." Reives glanced at Wolfe, who hadn't said a word this whole time. Now, she spoke,

"It could be feasible. We'd have to find a location large enough, and we should limit the attendees to citizens of South Ebott. It'll be easier to manage than last time, though." Reives nodded slowly,

"We'll work on planning that. I'm thinking late this month, or early January…"

"Christmas is next week. It might be fitting to have it around that time, if we can get everything in order by then," Wolfe suggested. You couldn't really imagine her getting into the Christmas spirit. The mental image of her wearing a Santa hat improved your mood somewhat.

"How would you feel about letting the humans see the Underground?" You asked, turning to Asgore for the first time, "I'm not saying we have to plan it now, but it'd be good to show them your world, too. Might make humans empathize with the monsters a little more." You knew people had to be curious about the Underground. You would've been, if you hadn't already lived in it. Asgore seemed surprised that you'd suggested it. He took a minute to think,

"Hmm… I suppose it would only be fair," Reives' expression betrayed nothing, but you thought he was sitting up a little straighter than before, "However, I would insist on choosing which humans are allowed on the trip. I would not want anyone to cause trouble."

"Of course," Reives said, his smile having returned in full force, "Why don't we wait until after the town meeting? We can discuss this again at a later date."

"Yes, that seems appropriate," Asgore agreed, and Wolfe nodded sharply. There was a moment of awkward silence before Reives spoke again,

"Well, if that is all…" He looked over at you, but you didn't interrupt this time. You had other things you'd wanted to talk about, but you were quickly losing your confidence. It could wait for next time.

"It was nice meeting with you, agents," Asgore said, with extra emphasis on the word "agents."

"As always," Reives added before standing up and holding out his hand. Asgore shook it carefully. You grabbed your cane and stood. By the time you were on your feet, Reives had turned to you with his outstretched hand. His right hand… you had to switch your cane to your other side to shake it.

"See you next week," You said it like a promise. Wolfe and Reives glanced at each other.

"Indeed." With that, you, Asgore, and Undyne walked out the door. You looked over your shoulder at Charlie, who hadn't said a word during the whole meeting. He gave you a smile and a wink when the agents had their backs turned. You grinned, and felt like there was at least one other human on your side.

It wasn't until you'd hobbled down half the steps that any of you said anything to each other.

"That went quite well, I think," Asgore spoke first, looking back at you with a warm smile, "I am proud that you were able to maintain your professionalism. It would have been very unfortunate if the situation had escalated." You grimaced, but took the compliment with a nod. You hadn't really done anything to deescalate the tension, either, but you supposed it hadn't gone badly.

"Do you think we'll be ready for a town meeting by next week?" You asked absentmindedly, distracted by the sight of Sans waiting at the bottom of the stairs for you.

"I think so, yes. It is not like we are doing much else." You barely heard Asgore's response, too focused as you were on getting down the stairs. You limped down quickly, your cane and feet thudding on every wooden step. Undyne grunted in surprise as you passed her, but Asgore seemed to have expected this and pressed himself against the railing to get out of your way. When you reached the landing, Sans was lying on the ground, his arms crossed under the back of his head. He opened one eye lazily to watch you approach.

"Heya," He greeted you, trying too hard to look casual. You stood over him and grinned,

"Hey, yourself." You reached your free hand down, and Sans took it eagerly. You pulled him to his feet, glad not for the first time that he was as light as a feather. The skin-to-bone contact put your soul at ease. Truth be told, you hadn't realized how much you'd missed him up there during the meeting. You didn't know whether to feel relieved that you'd been able to separate from him without too much of an issue, or guilty that you hadn't thought of him as much as you should've.

Sans let go of you to brush his coat off, though you were sure he'd only been on the ground for a few minutes at most. You saw a suspicious-looking line through the patchy spots of snow on the ground, indicating that someone had been pacing back and forth. Guilt won out.

"How'd it go?" Sans asked, and Asgore and Undyne caught up to you.

"Good," You answered, then looked back at the King for confirmation.

"Yes, I believe we are making progress in the right direction," The four of you started walking back to camp, and Sans sighed almost imperceptibly. He hated walking even more than you did, but he couldn't take a shortcut. Not on the surface, within sight of the guard towers.

As Asgore summarized the meeting for Sans (leaving out the part where Reives mentioned your parents), you began to shiver in the cold. It had been an abnormally warm winter so far, but the weather was starting to catch up with you. The metal in your artificial hips popped, and you winced.

All of the sudden, you felt something warm and heavy drape over your shoulders. You looked at Sans, who was now in only a t-shirt and shorts. You tugged on his coat to keep it from sliding off.

"Thanks," You muttered, your cheeks red. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but you were sharply reminded of that first, fateful date back in Snowdin. You didn't know what to think about that memory. But, either way, it was an unwelcome intrusion.

"No prob. I didn't need it anyway… The cold goes right through me." The two of you smiled at each other stupidly. Behind Sans, Undyne winked at you obnoxiously.

Your group reached camp shortly after, passing by the helicopter that Reives and Wolfe had flown in on. Asgore bid you all farewell before retreating to his house. As soon as he was out of earshot, Undyne punched you in the shoulder.

"That was awesome! Way to stick it to the man!" You blinked,

"Huh?" You'd been expecting her to tease you about the coat thing, but she was grinning at you with genuine excitement,

"Back at the meeting! Man, I wish I could get away with talking like that… But Asgore gets all disappointed whenever I argue with those stuck-up pigs," You shifted your weight between your sore feet uncomfortably. It wasn't fair that you were able to speak your mind without fear while Undyne was forced to keep quiet, but she didn't seem to resent you for it, "Maybe things'll start getting done with a human in our corner."

"Yeah, that's the plan," You said with a tentative smile. You didn't know how much you'd be able to do, but you were determined to try.

"Anyway, I gotta get back to the Underground… I put Papyrus in charge while I was gone, and who knows what kind of things he's got my guards doing," She shook her head, probably remembering the time two weeks ago when Pap had made all of the guards test his word search puzzles for hours on end, "See ya later!"

"See ya," You waved as Undyne ran off, with clumps of dirty snow being kicked up in her wake. You and Sans headed off to your own house without a word, your arms bumping together as you walked.

He held the front door open for you, which you walked through gratefully. You immediately flopped face-down onto the couch, letting your cane fall to the floor. You heard Sans close the door and huff a quiet laugh at the sight of you. He walked up to the couch and carefully removed the two layers of coats from your body. He had to flip you over to unzip the second one, which caused you to groan in protest. You watched him throw the coats into the corner of the room - you really needed to invest in a coat rack. Then, he walked up to your feet to ease off your boats. He was always so much gentler with you than you ever were with yourself, and it gave you a warm feeling in your chest.

Finally, when he decided you were sufficiently comfortable, he propped you up by the shoulders and sat beneath you, resting your head back on his lap once he was settled.

"How's that?" He asked, looking down at you with a rare, soft expression that you only ever saw him give you and Papyrus. You hummed and tapped your chin thoughtfully,

"I dunno… I could use a couple of blankets. And some hot chocolate… with those little marshmallows. And if you could put on a movie…"

"Of course, your royal highness," He joked, and you stuck your tongue out at him, "But you'll have to let me get up, first."

"Then forget it," You sighed dramatically. Sans chuckled and unconsciously raised his hand to run his fingers over your short, tickly hair. You suspected that he liked your hair this short, and you were weighing the pros and cons of leaving it that way when he spoke again,

"I'm proud of you," You blinked up at him, feeling oddly exposed as he hovered over you and caressed your skull, "You're doin' a lot of good… helping a lot of people. I'm proud."

Your heart swelled. After all that you'd done… his support meant the world to you. You remembered him saying that he forgave you as he held you, dying, in his arms. But here, in the calm of your own home, his forgiveness felt more real.

Suddenly, you surged up, simultaneously reaching for the back of Sans' head to pull him down. You pressed your lips, hard, against his teeth. He made a little, surprised noise, but leaned into the kiss once he got over the shock. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around your back. Even once the kiss had broken, you kept holding each other. Time passed around you, but you felt utterly immune to its influence. You could've stayed there forever, with your chest pressed up against Sans' and his face buried in the junction between your neck and shoulder.

You held onto each other, and just breathed.


	8. Do No Harm

You and Sans had always kept close to each other, but felt a little different after that day. You didn't do it in front of your friends, but, when you were alone, you'd sneak kisses every now and then. It was like you were trying to surprise each other with it. Like each kiss was one of you saying, "Hey! Guess what? I still like you." It was silly, but you considered it a win every time you made Sans blush.

Undyne's teasing about your relationship was starting to make more sense now. The two of you hadn't been too bothered by it before, but now you and Sans burned red and blue, respectively, whenever she taunted you about it.

One day, the two of you were over at your neighbor's house, hanging out with Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus. You had just gotten back from talking to Asgore. Agent Wolfe hadn't been able to schedule the town meeting for the next week, so you and the King decided to have a surface festival for the monsters on Christmas day instead. Asgore seemed to think that human holidays were exotic and intriguing even though, as Sans pointed out, the monsters who lived in Snowdin had a holiday very similar to Christmas. Regardless, Asgore thought that it would help the monsters to start assimilating in any way they could, and so you'd agreed to begin preparations for a holiday party in camp.

But, before you could start any of that, you'd promised Alphys that you'd come over to her place and watch her favorite anime. Truthfully, you'd already seen the first two seasons in the other timeline. It was really the only thing you could do for fun when you were hiding from Undyne in the True Lab. Now, though, the captain of the Royal Guard was here with you, with her arm around her excited, nerdy girlfriend. In order for you all to fit on the couch, Sans had to basically lay on top of you and Papyrus. Sans didn't seem to mind, but Papyrus kept complaining that his brother's heels were digging into his leg.

You watched a few episodes, pretending you'd never seen them before, when the sound of something far off in the distance distracted you. In the silence that fell over the room while Alphys was rewinding the next tape, you heard something that sounded like far away chanting.

"Do you hear that?" You asked, concerned. Alphys hit pause and looked over at Undyne with apprehension. The two of them seemed to know something that you didn't.

"It sounds like someone's having a party!" Papyrus commented, but you silently disagreed. There was too much of an angry undertone to the voices for it to be any sort of celebration.

"No… Asgore said he thought this might happen," Undyne groaned in frustration, "It's protesters, I bet. He figured there'd be more of them now because…" She looked over at you, and you understood. They were here because you'd come out of the mountain and were representing the monsters' interests. You'd been so isolated from the rest of humanity that you had no idea how the general public had taken the news. But, now that you were thinking about it, you were honestly surprised that the protesters hadn't come back sooner.

"L-let's just put on the n-next episode…" Alphys reached for the remote but, before she could press play, you blurted out,

"I'm sorry, guys. I hope I'm not just making things worse…" You bit your lip, unsure of yourself. You'd been pretty confident in the path you were on ever since the meeting, but that sounded like an awful lot of angry people outside. If you could hear them all the way from the border…

"Fuck that!" Undyne exclaimed, thumping her fist on the arm of the couch. You jumped, and Sans frowned.

"Language!" Papyrus chided her, but she ignored him,

"People will find a reason to be mad about anything! If they have a problem, they can take it up with us at the town meeting!" She bared her teeth in a grin, and you smiled tentatively back.

"Although I disapprove of her crude tone, I agree with Undyne!" Papyrus declared, putting his arm around your shoulder in a side-hug, "You're doing a great job, and everyone here knows it!" From under you, Sans reached to push your head up with his hand,

"Yeah, keep your chin up, kid." You laughed and swatted his hand away. He grabbed your wrist, and the two of you fought playfully until Sans had both of your hands in one of his. You could sense that he was about to start tickling you with his free hand, and you warned him,

"I _will_ dump you off of this couch," You gave him a stern look, and he blinked up at you innocently,

"Wasn't gonna do nothin', babe." There was a beat of silence, both of you surprised by what he'd just said. You'd never used pet names with each other before, aside from the occasional "kid" or "dumbass." And you didn't think those counted much, considering the fact that he called everyone a kid and you called all of your best friends dumbasses.

"Oh my god, get a room!" Undyne hollered. You gave her a sour look,

" _You_ get a room," You eyed her arm around Alphys and raised your brows. In retaliation, she planted a wet kiss on Alphys' cheek, all while flipping you the bird. Alphys' face burned bright red.

"I AM EMBARRASSED TO KNOW YOU ALL," Pap shouted, looking distinctly uncomfortable with all of this. For his sake, you rolled your eyes and said to Alphys,

"Alright, alright… let's put on the next episode."

As the Mew Mew Kissy Cutie theme song began to play, you looked back down at Sans. You were a little surprised to see that he was blushing almost as bad as Alphys. The blue glow of his cheeks had even spread across the bridge of his nose. It was cute, but you still felt a bit sorry for him.

You poked him in the back of the head, careful to avoid the small hole in his skull. He turned to look at you, and you silently mouthed, _"You okay?"_ He nodded, and reached to push your chin up again. You snorted, shook your head, and let it go.

The rest of the day passed with minimal lewd jokes. Once you'd all had your fill of anime, you went over to Toriel's house for dinner. She loved having a full house, and was more than happy to cook for everyone. Frisk enjoyed the company, too, and insisted that you go get your playstation after you'd eaten so that you could all play a few games together before their bedtime.

You were tempted to approach Frisk about the dream you'd had before, but you didn't know what to say. Everything about those fever dreams was disturbing. You didn't like to think about them. But the one about Chara was particularly bothering you, since it was harder to write that one off as being just a simple dream. Before Orion - before you'd even fallen into the Underground in the first place - you'd had dreams about them that had turned out to be real. When you'd talked to Chara in real life, they'd referenced things the two of you had talked about in your dreams. It all suggested that Chara had spoken to you again while you were sick. A part of you wanted to ask them about the things they'd said. Plus, if that dream was real, then what did that mean about the other dreams you'd had before and after it?

But did Frisk even know about any of that? Was there any point in asking them about it? And then, even if you could get the kid alone to ask them, how would you communicate? You didn't know sign language. Unless Frisk approached you about it first, you figured it was better to just let sleeping dogs lie.

After Frisk decimated everyone in one of your video games, you all headed back to your own houses. It wasn't terribly late, but in the dead of winter it was already pitch black outside by 7. You and Sans stayed up a while longer, drinking some of the spider cider that Toriel had given to you to take home. As you often did when you were alone, the two of you talked back and forth about whatever trivial things happened to come to mind. You almost always rattled on more than he did, but tonight the difference was even more prominent.

"You okay?" You asked him for the second time that day as you slouched back on the couch. Sans was leaning against the opposite wall, nursing his cider. "You've hardly said anything. I'd say it feels like I'm having a conversation with a rock, but I actually think the rock would be more talkative than you." Sans smiled at your lame joke and shrugged noncommittally,

"I just like listening to you. Is that a crime?" Your face felt hot, but you didn't let his sweet compliment deter you,

"I guess not, but you're still acting funny."

"I'm always funny."

"Touché."

The conversation died from there. Sans pushed off of the wall and set his now-empty mug on the coffee table. You watched him approach, expecting him to help you to your feet so you could head off to bed together. Instead, he leaned down and kissed you.

You made a little, surprised noise before starting to move your lips against his. The more the two of you kissed, the more you got used to the fact that he couldn't really reciprocate. You could tell from the way he opened his mouth and pressed against you harder than usual that he was looking for something more serious than just a peck on the teeth.

As you obliged his silent but firm request, you realized that you had no idea what to do with your hands. His were on either side of you, bracketing you into the couch. Hesitantly, you put one hand on his hip, your fingers twitching with nervousness. The only time you could remember kissing him like this before was down in the True Lab, back when you were marked for death and he had wanted nothing from you other than that physical closeness. You hadn't been sure what to think about it back then, and you still weren't sure now.

Eventually, Sans did break the kiss to pull you up from the couch. He led you by the hand into the bedroom, and you followed as if in a daze. When you got inside, he closed the door and placed both hands on your shoulders, backing you up until the backs of your knees hit the bed. You instinctively sat down. He took a deep breath, as though stealing himself, before pulling off his shirt and throwing it aside.

Before you could react at all, he bent down to continue the kiss. You were surprised by all of this, but, while Sans was caressing the back of your head and gently rubbing circles into your thigh, you decided you were a-ok with it. You reached up to massage the base of his neck with one hand while smoothing your other over the side of his ribs. He shuddered under you, and you grinned.

Suddenly, Sans pushed you onto your back and swung your legs onto the bed. You yelped as the sharp, unexpected motion made your hips twinge painfully. To your surprise, Sans didn't even seem to notice. He crawled on top of you, his bones rattling audibly. Everything had been fine just a moment ago, but you were starting to get a bad vibe. You quickly and firmly pushed him away.

"Stop."

He did. A tiny, shameful part of you doubted that he would, but of course he did. He scrambled back, farther away than he needed to be. Almost falling off of the edge of the bed in his haste to get away from you. His breaths came sharp and quick, and he was trembling.

What the hell happened?

"Sans? What was all that about?" You asked, your voice pitched higher than usual. He wouldn't look at you… What was going on?

Finally, he groaned and drew his knees up to his chest, burying his face in his legs. You inched toward him, your racing heart now starting to slow. Briefly, you wished you could just read his mind and bring whatever was happening out into the open. But you cast that thought away as soon as it reared its head. You were separate people now, with separate thoughts and experiences. Clearly, something was going on with Sans that you hadn't noticed. But you noticed it now, and you'd have to just talk about it the old fashioned way.

"It's okay… You can tell me. We can tell each other anything, right?" You sat next to him and mimicked his pose, resting your chin on your own knees. You waited patiently in the quiet, dark bedroom, listening to the cold wind howling outside until Sans found the words he wanted to use.

"I thought… We're in a relationship, right?" He peeked up at you, his eyes squinted and his voice strained as though he was trying to hold something in. You licked your lips, and said,

"Yes." There it was, then. You'd never talked about it, but, really, you'd been in a relationship this whole time. There was always more to it than just a platonic friendship… Friends didn't share a bed, cuddle, or kiss. Friends also didn't do… whatever had just happened.

"Well…" Sans picked at a bit of fuzz on his sweatpants, then rubbed the corners of his eyes. The sound of bone on bone was grating. "I thought… y'know. You'd have certain… expectations. And I just wanted it to happen now so that maybe I'd stop worrying about it all the time. I didn't… I should've paid more attention to you. I'm sorry, I just wanted to get it over with…" He blushed a fierce blue, "Er, no, that's not what I meant. I didn't… It's not you, it's just…" His words came tumbling out. Too many words to say such a simple thing.

"Sans… I don't expect anything of you," You said softly, mortified that you'd been so oblivious to this. You'd just been enjoying the stolen kisses; you hadn't thought this far yet. But Sans clearly had.

"Other people do," He grunted, almost too quiet for you to hear. This was about as embarrassed as you'd ever seen him, and you wanted nothing more than to spare him this. You wanted to forget this all ever happened and go to sleep like every other night. But this had to be talked about. You were beginning to see that not everything between the two of you could be left unspoken.

"Is this about Undyne? Because she's just joking, I thought you knew-"

"It's not just her!" He interrupted sharply, "It's like everybody thinks we're more than we are, y'know? But we ain't like that, and it's my fault that we're not." You thought for a long moment. Not because you were conflicted, but just because you were trying to think of a way to fix this. Eventually, you blurted out,

"So what if everyone thinks we're fucking each other?" Sans reeled, his face turning impossibly more blue. You continued undeterred, "You don't want to, right? And that's just fine. If you don't want to do that, then I don't want to, either"

"Really?" He asked in a low, skeptical tone. You nodded,

"What's important to me is that you're not doing something you don't want to do. As long as you're happy, I'm happy," You said it with confidence and, to your surprise, Sans chuckled.

"Man, I feel stupid now. Been worryin' about this for who knows how long… shoulda just talked to you about it, huh?" You laughed along with him,

"Maybe we both need to talk to each other more. Like, about important things. We can't just keep assuming we know what the other's thinking."

"Touché."

You grinned stupidly at each other for a moment before you grabbed his shirt form the foot of the bed. You held up the ratty t-shirt and shook it a little,

"You want this back?"

"Nah." Silently, you were relieved. You liked the fact that both of you were so comfortable with each other's bodies, and you didn't want that to change. But… You shouldn't assume that was the case just from this one scenario. You hesitated, then threw the shirt over to the other side of the room. You turned so that you were facing Sans fully,

"What _do_ you like?" He tilted his head, confused,

"Huh?"

"Y'know, like… Okay, so you don't want to have sex," Sans flinched, still blatantly uncomfortable with even the mention of the word. You ignored it and continued, "What do you like? Was the kissing okay?" You tried not to put any judgement into your voice, so as not to sway his answer. You knew he'd lie if he thought it'd make you happy.

But, secretly, you hoped he was okay with everything you'd been doing up until tonight. You loved the kissing, the cuddling… You knew you'd survive without any of it, but it would be near impossible to stop reaching out to him for physical comfort. Plus, if it turned out that he was uncomfortable with all of that, then what did it say about you? Were you inadequate in some way? Was it because you were a human? Because you were disabled? You knew you shouldn't think those things, but you couldn't stop yourself.

Sans stared at you blankly for a moment, then scooched closer. You held your breath and sat up straighter, relaxing your legs. You were surprised when Sans straddled them.

"I like this," He pressed his bare chest against yours, then wrapped a hand around you to rub your back. He worked at the tight knots in your muscles with his thumb. You arched into his touch and sighed contentedly.

"And this…" He pressed his teeth against your lips in a skeleton kiss, his bones no longer rattling as he began to relax. You did nothing to escalate it, but simply allowed your faces to press flat against each other. A perfect fit. He chuckled, and you could feel the laugh rumbling in his ribs.

"You can kiss me, y'know." You laughed breathlessly. Of course… If Sans had disliked any of this, you would've noticed sooner. Like you'd noticed his discomfort tonight. You puckered your lips and gave him a quick kiss before dipping your head to press your foreheads together. This way, you could better see into his eyes. He looked utterly relaxed now; his mouth was no longer bent into that nearly permanent, signature smile. His usually wide eyes, always on alert, were now half-lidded. The bone that made up his face was smooth and unguarded. You knew that you were the only one who ever saw him like this, and the thought gave you a strong, almost possessive feeling.

You hummed lowly and closed your eyes as his hands moved up and down your spine. You appreciated the massage, but were unsure if you were allowed to reciprocate. For now, you just let him touch you and kept your hands folded in your lap. Sans moved to rest his chin on your shoulder, his head leaning heavy against your neck.

"This is nice," He stated, and you nodded slowly in agreement. Neither of you needed anything more.


	9. Twin Suns

Before you knew it, Christmas had arrived. It snuck up on you so quickly that you hadn't thought much about getting gifts for everyone. But, as it turned out, none of the monsters had gotten each other anything, anyway. Most of them were unfamiliar with the holiday and hadn't thought to get gifts, either.

The only one who ended up getting anything was Frisk. You realized the night before that, while none of the monsters would be too invested in getting presents, the kid might be. They were human, and they'd grown up with presents under the tree on Christmas morning. Or at least, you assumed so. You may not have liked kids much, but the thought of any child not getting anything for Christmas left you with a bad taste in your mouth.

So, on Christmas morning, you woke up early and hunted down that box Asgore had used when he'd carried you up to the surface. In it, you packed up your playstation and all of the games that went along with it. You figured the kid would get more use out of it than you, and your nostalgia for it wasn't a good enough excuse to keep it for yourself. As soon as Sans was awake, you dragged him over to Toriel's house to help deliver your gift.

"Oh! Good morning," Tori said as she answered the door, surprised but pleased by the unexpected company. She opened the door wider for you to enter, and you stomped the snow off of your boots before doing so.

"Good morning, and Merry Christmas," You said politely while Sans grumbled something unintelligible. He hefted the big box inside, acting like it was such a heavy burden. In reality, the box was only half full. Plus, you knew he was lifting it using mostly magic, so he had no reason to complain.

"Goodness, what is in the box?" Toriel began to reach for it, but you put your hand over the top to prevent her from peeking.

"It's for Frisk. Humans usually give each other gifts on Christmas, and I didn't want them to not get anything," As you explained, you thought you heard dresser drawers opening and closing loudly in the neighboring room.

"Ah, right… That is very sweet of you!" Toriel smiled, and you shuffled your feet awkwardly. People didn't call you "sweet" very often, and you weren't sure what to do with the compliment.

Thankfully, you didn't have time to say anything stupid before Frisk burst out of their room. Their hair was a mess, and they were dressed very haphazardly. They ran up to the box and put their hands on it, looking up at you eagerly as they bounced up and down on their heels.

"Uh, go ahead. You can open it," You took your hand off the top of the box, and Frisk immediately began to dig in. You wished you'd had wrapping paper to prolong the frantic present-opening, but it wasn't something you could've gotten on such short notice. Regardless, Frisk's face lit up when they saw the console and games inside. Toriel looked over their shoulder and gasped,

"Dear, are you sure you want to give this all away? This is very generous…" You shrugged and rubbed the back of your neck,

"Yeah, sure. Frisk already plays it more than I do, so why not?" You saw a blur of motion out of the corner of your eye. Suddenly, Frisk tackled your legs in a hug, their face pressed into your stomach. You stumbled, and would've fallen over if you hadn't had your cane. They broke away quickly and looked up at you. With a big smile, they signed,

 **Thank you!** You blinked, surprised that you'd understood. You must've picked up the simple phrase by just spending some time around Frisk. You grinned back at them and hesitantly ruffled their hair.

"No problem, kiddo."

After helping Frisk set up the playstation and then eating a breakfast that Toriel insisted you and Sans stay for, you had to hurry to help Asgore and Mettaton set up for the Christmas festival. You'd been the one to suggest asking Mettaton for help, since you knew he'd market it well to the skeptical monsters underground. You were willing to accept the fact that he'd seize control of the whole event, as long as he brought people up here to check it out. Sans had been less than enthusiastic about your suggestion, and he spent most of the morning rolling his eyes behind Mettaton's back as the stylishly dressed robot flitted around, decorating the houses.

"So, Mettaton," You began as you held a coil of lights in your arm. Mettaton was on the roof, hanging up the multicolored lights as you fed them to him, "We're putting up all of these decorations to make the empty houses look nicer, but why don't you just move up here? I'm sure it would boost everyone's confidence if they saw you living on the surface."

"Darling, please. I can't move into one of these dingy old houses! I need to be where my people are!" He waved the lights around dramatically, the metal joints of his robotic arms clicking as he did so, "No, no… this place is far too small for a star like me!" You frowned,

"Ironic, huh? As big as the surface is, with you guys being stuck in this camp… It's actually pretty claustrophobic." Mettaton pointed at you,

"Exactly! And _that_ doesn't help," He moved his arm to point up at something behind you, and you whirled around to look. He was talking about the guard tower. You were pretty sure Daujatas was up in that one right now, unless she had off on Christmas, "Always watching… But, will I mention that to the fans today? Oh no! If you want monsters moving into these houses, darling, consider my lips zipped!" You snorted, and let out some more lights for him,

"Thanks," You weren't always a huge fan of Mettaton, but he was helping out an awful lot today. Even if it was just to promote his brand.

You, Sans, Asgore, and Mettaton were stuck decorating the whole morning before the decore was up to the robot's standards. The other residents of the neighborhood slowly started joining in to help get the job done. Even then, Mettaton was only barely satisfied.

"Well, it'll have to do," He said begrudgingly, his hands on his hips as he surveyed the camp. You, on the other hand, were more than happy with the fruits of your labor. The camp actually looked warm and festive - something you hadn't thought possible of the bleary, identical row of houses. With the colorful lights and wreaths hanging on every front door, it actually reminded you of a suburban neighborhood. Even a few of the nearest trees had lights hanging from their branches. Just as you were wishing for a fresh layer of snow to cover up all of your boot prints, a few, fluffy flakes began to fall from the sky. You smiled contentedly,

"I think it's beautiful," You said, with a stubborn edge to your voice. Beside you, Sans huffed as he held back a laugh.

"Yes, yes, it'll work just fine," Mettaton waved you off, then turned on heel to walk off dramatically, "I'll go and rustle up some guests. You can thank me later!" With that, he left for the Underground, his hips swaying as he walked. You shook your head and laughed under your breath,

"He can be alright, once you get used to him."

"Really? Because I hated every minute of that," Sans said, but with a smile. He slipped his hands in your coat pockets and turned you around to face him. You reached up and brushed the snow off of the top of his skull with your gloved hand.

"What? You don't like lifting heavy objects in the cold all morning?" With Sans' powers, he was constantly being ordered by Mettaton to lift a wreath here, or hang some lights over there. He hummed as though seriously considering your question,

"Nope. Not in the least," He tugged you closer, but you resisted nervously.

"Not out here…" Your eyes flicked between the guard towers. Sans' face hardened into a forced smile,

"Right." Slowly, he took his hands out of your pockets and took a step back. Between his fingers, he held up a coin and winked, "Guess I'll just be taking this instead, then."

"Hey! That's mine!" You lunged for him, commencing a playful game of chase. You didn't really care about the gold coin; you didn't even remember where you got it. But it was the principle of the matter. It wasn't a fair game, since you could hardly even walk unassisted whereas Sans could essentially teleport at will. Eventually, after chasing him around in tight circles for a minute, you managed to hook Sans around the waist with the end of your cane. This, however, set you off balance, and you ended up tripping while dragging Sans down with you. You landed harmlessly in the snow, but poor Sans was wheezing as the sudden change in direction pulled him sharply off course.

"Oh, shit… Are you okay?" You crawled over to where he was lying, face-down, on the ground. He sent up a weak thumbs-up. You grinned and rolled him over, looming over him for a moment before plucking the coin out of his hand, "I'll take that, then."

"Better quiet down, or I'll have to bring you in for disturbing the peace," You and Sans both jumped and whirled around at the sound of a man's shout. Much to your surprise, Charlie was walking up the road toward the two of you. You looked back down at Sans anxiously. Although you were about 85% sure that Charlie was joking, you weren't familiar enough with him to know for certain. Sure enough, when you looked back up at him, you could just see through the falling snow that he was grinning crookedly, "Jeez, lighten up. I'm kidding."

"We knew that," You shouted back defensively as Sans slipped out from under you. He stood up, then held a hand out for you. You were brushing the snow off of your knees by the time Charlie was close enough to not have to yell anymore,

"Nice decorations," He said with an appreciative nod. You and Sans glanced at each other, silently arguing about who should be the one to ask. Sans ended up losing.

"Uh… No offense, but… What're you doing down here?" He asked, his arms crossed defensively. The guards _never_ came down from their towers, except when they were unloading a supply shipment from the city. The fact that Charlie was so casually sauntering around the camp felt like an invasion. Even as a human, yourself, you felt like your safe place was being violated. Charlie looked, wide-eyed, between the two of you. He clearly didn't get it.

"Oh, I just saw you guys putting up the lights and stuff so I just thought I'd pop down and say… Merry Christmas?" He paused, then gestured back to his tower, "I mean, I should probably get back-"

"No, why don't you stay?" You interrupted with a smile. You could feel Sans' eyes boring into you, but you ignored him for now, "We're trying to get some monsters up here to celebrate with us, and they'd probably like to meet you." Charlie kicked the snow with his foot apprehensively,

"Um… Yeah, I mean… I guess I could do that." You hadn't really expected him to agree, but you were glad when he did. Your smile grew,

"Great! Asgore was just making some tea for us while we waited for people to get here. Why don't we go see if he's done?" Without waiting for an answer, you started off in the direction of the King's house. Sans fell into step beside you, and Charlie trailed behind. Once he was far enough away that you were certain he wouldn't overhear, you whispered to Sans, "Maybe, if people see that the guards aren't all bad, they'll feel better about moving up here." Sans hummed contemplatively,

"I dunno, maybe." You glanced over your shoulder at Charlie, who gave you a hesitant grin.

"Plus… y'know… It's Christmas. It'd be pretty crappy to have to spend the holiday up in that tower." You had no idea what Charlie's family situation was like; you didn't know a single thing about the guy, other than that he lived in South Ebott. But, regardless of whether or not he had a family he was missing today, you figured he might appreciate a couple hours off. He didn't seem too worried about getting in trouble for leaving his post, at any rate.

"Aw, aren't you a kind soul," Sans teased, and you jabbed him with your elbow,

"I'm a persevering soul, get it right."

When Asgore answered the door, he was more than a little surprised to see Charlie accompanying you. Upon seeing the King in his casual, weekend clothes, the guardsman took a step back,

"Y'know, maybe I should just go back. You guys have a good holiday-"

"No, please, come in. I insist," Asgore offered with a gracious smile. Charlie stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged,

"Alright, then." With that, the four of you took shelter from the falling snow in Asgore's house, sitting around his dining room table to sip your tea. You didn't talk about anything important; mostly just about how unfair it was that Charlie had to work on Christmas day.

"Eh, it's not so bad," He said, leaning back in his chair and stretching his legs out. It was always hard not to feel at home in Asgore's house, and it seemed like Charlie was not immune to that feeling of welcomeness, "At least I know nothing's gonna happen today. It's not like protesters are gonna hike all the way out here on Christmas."

"Do they cause much trouble?" Asgore asked, and Charlie shook his head,

"Nah. Everyone respects the border pretty well. They're just loud, is all… Gets annoying."

You were quiet as Asgore and Charlie continued their conversation. You'd managed not to think about your family so far today, but all of this talk about the protesters had you wondering. What were your parents doing today? If you'd been home, the three of you would've already torn open all of the presents you'd gotten each other. There were never a lot, with you being an only child. But it was always fun, anyway. Then, you probably would've driven down to your grandma's house in Stonewall. It was a long trip from your home, but if you guys didn't visit Grandma, your uncle surely wouldn't, and you didn't want her to be alone on Christmas. Were Mom and Dad there now? Stonewall was closer to Mount Ebott than your house in Pueblo… Right now, they might only be a few hours away from you.

While you were lost in thought, you vaguely heard someone say your name.

"Huh?" You snapped out of it, and Asgore patiently repeated himself,

"It seems as though Papyrus and Frisk managed to convince someone to come up to the surface…" You whirled around in your seat to look out the window. Sure enough, a family of dinosaur-like monsters were following Frisk and Papyrus down the road. You recognized one of them from the game; the armless, yellow child aptly named "Monster Kid." The rest of the family passed by the window too quickly for you to get a good look at them. From outside, you heard a high-pitched squeal.

"Let's go see what all the fuss is about," Sans suggested. With that, all four of you scrambled to set your empty mugs in the sink and hurried outside. Charlie was the only one who was trailing behind when you threw open the front door and stepped back out into the cold.

Immediately, a snowball flew past your head and hit Asgore's window. You flinched, and were sharply reminded of that day you'd been hit in the face with a snowball under similar circumstances.

"Sorry!" A young voice called out to you. You turned and saw Monster Kid running from Frisk. He stopped suddenly and made a face at the human child, "Not fair, Frisk! I can't make snowballs!" Frisk, who already had another snowball poised and ready to be thrown, pouted and let their weapon fall back to the ground.

"HELLO, SIBLINGS!" Papyrus called out to you and Sans, waving both of his arms as though worried you wouldn't see him. Standing next to him were three other similar-looking monsters. You assumed that the two larger ones were the parents, one of whom was staring up at the cloudy sky while the other looked around anxiously. The smallest newcomer, a tiny Monster Kid lookalike with a bow on her head, was standing between her mom and dad with a blank expression.

You waved back and watched as Monster Kid's mother whispered something to Papyrus. His response was loud enough for you to hear as clear as day,

"Yes, of course! You should come and meet them!" This did not appear to be what the monsters had in mind. The one staring at the sky, who you assumed to be the father of the family by his sharp suit, snapped out of his daze and shared a worried look with his wife. You leaned your shoulder against the doorframe, arms crossed, and watched as Papyrus cheerfully led the unwilling family up to Asgore's front door.

"Brother! Sibling! These are MK's parents and sister! And… Oh! Hello!" Once he got closer, Papyrus caught sight of Charlie hovering behind you.

"Who's that?" MK's mom asked Papyrus in a shrill voice. Charlie cleared his throat and answered for himself,

"I'm Charlie, I'm one of the guards…" He gestured helplessly up toward where his tower loomed over the camp, "I just came down to say 'hey.' So, uh. Hey." The parents glanced at each other again. The father shuffled closer to his daughter and said skeptically,

"You're a guard? Like, a royal guard?" Charlie furrowed his brow,

"Huh? I don't know about that… I mostly just sit up in my tower and watch… It's pretty boring, actually." The little girl showed emotion for the first time, cracking a smile and letting out a light, tinkling giggle. Charlie smiled back at her and crouched down to her height, "Hey, there. What's your name?"

"She doesn't talk," The child's mother answered for her, "Her name's Elise." Charlie looked up at her and nodded seriously,

"Elise… one of the best names around, if I do say so myself." The girl laughed again, ducking her head to try to hide it.

Now that their daughter seemed to approve of Charlie, the adult monsters relaxed marginally. They turned their suspicious glares over to you, instead. Knowing that you wouldn't be able to win over their kid, you excused yourself,

"I think I'll go check on Frisk, how about you, Sans?" You shot him a pleading look, and he got the memo,

"Yeah, right behind ya."

With that, the two of you left Asgore and Charlie with the monster family and hurried outside. You felt a little bad abandoning Charlie, but he was likable enough that you were sure he'd be able to make friends, even with the skeptical monsters.

Once you left the house for real, you noticed that there were far more people outside than there had been before. Undyne, Alphys, and Toriel had returned, and it looked like at least a couple of them had been successful at convincing people to visit the camp. A few families were gathered outside. The parents were all huddled together, either staring at the sky in awe or watching nervously as their kids played together in the snow.

You and Sans ended up not joining them. Instead, you helped Toriel make hot chocolate for everyone. It was hardly a three person job, but it didn't feel right for you to join all of the monsters outside. You didn't really belong.

It seemed like everyone else was having a good time, though. Once Mettaton finally arrived, he brought with him enough guests to double the size of the party. His mere presence caused people to relax and smile more, so not even Sans could be mad that he was basically running the show.

When the snow started to come down in wet, heavy clumps, everyone quickly hurried indoors. There were too many people to cram into Asgore's living room, so Toriel graciously offered up her own house for people to take shelter in. The monsters joked about how similar the two houses were, and how the humans clearly had no flare for style. You found yourself feeling a little irked by the jabs; after all, the monsters had no idea what actual human houses looked like. There was plenty of variety once you got past the haphazardly-built camp houses. You couldn't pinpoint exactly why the generalization that humans were uncreative bothered you so much, but it did.

At any rate, you were too busy to ponder it much. You and Sans were constantly going back and forth between the two houses, offering hot chocolate and snacks to the many guests. Sans was the only one really doing any work, since, with your cane, you didn't have enough hands to be much help carrying things. But, because you were taller than him, you were better at carving a path through the crowds of people. So you felt at least slightly useful in that sense.

You and Sans checked in on Charlie often but found that, as predicted, you needn't have worried about him. The adults grudgingly accepted his presence, while the kids openly flocked to him. He started out just playing tea party with Elise using Asgore's teacups, but gradually got roped into babysitting all of the children. Curiously, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he enjoyed playing whatever silly games they made him partake in. After a while of running after the kids, though, Charlie announced that he should get back to work.

"Thanks for letting me crash your party," You overheard him telling Asgore. The King smiled warmly,

"It was no trouble, Have a good evening, Officer."

"You, too, and Merry Christmas." As he was leaving, Charlie caught sight of you. He gave you and Sans a friendly wave from across the room. You waved back and watched him leave, feeling like you knew him better now than you did before today.

When Charlie left, everyone else slowly started to file out, too. Once all of your monster guests had gone back to their homes in the Underground, you approached Asgore to ask how he thought it had gone.

"I believe it was a success, wouldn't you say?" He said as he washed mugs and teacups in the sink. You were sitting, exhausted from the day's activities, while Sans pushed chairs back into their proper places. You lifted your legs one at a time onto a chair that Sans pushed in across from you.

"Yeah, I guess so. Did anyone ask about moving in?" As Sans finished with his meager assistance, he flopped into the chair next to you. Unable to reach across the table to prop his own feet up, he rested his bony legs on top of your own. You made a face at him.

"Unfortunately, no. Most of those who came to visit today have young children. There are no schools around here, so I could understand why they would be unwilling to make the move."

"Why was it all families, though? I wasn't really expecting that."

"From what I heard, the parents seemed to want their children to see the sky. Though it was a rather poor day for that," Asgore commented, and you glanced out the window. While the snow had been light and fluffy earlier in the day, it was now coming down with a fierceness. It seemed like it might develop into a blizzard soon.

"Maybe we should get back home, while we can still see two feet in front of our faces," Sans was half-joking, but you agreed with him. Abruptly, you dropped your feet to the ground, causing Sans' legs to fall, too. He grunted, but otherwise showed no sign of having been disturbed.

"Thanks for hosting all of those people, Asgore… We should text Tori to thank her, too," You said to Sans, even though you knew you'd be the one who'd take the initiative to do it.

"Oh, it was no trouble. I should be thanking you for proposing the idea," You smiled to yourself as you pulled on your coat and gloves. You felt like you hadn't been able to contribute much during the actual event, but you were glad the idea had at least been a good one.

"No problem. See you later," You bid the King farewell, and Sans gave him his usual, lazy wave.

The walk to the next house over took much longer than it had any right to. You and Sans held hands to keep from losing each other. You thought it was silly, but he seemed genuinely anxious that you might slip away, so you humored him. You figured it might have something to do with how you first met; with you lying, unconscious, in the snow.

After struggling for a good few minutes in the storm, you finally made it back inside. You and Sans let out a collective sigh of relief when the door closed, and then laughed when you saw the snow that had accumulated on top of the other's head. You brushed the snow off of his skull and he shook it off of your hat before you both trudged to bed, both of you too tired from the day's work to stay up until a reasonable time.

Sans immediately flopped into the bed that neither of you had bothered to make that morning, while you took a little more care to get ready. You brushed your teeth, ditched your pants, and changed into a clean shirt. By the time you got out of the bathroom, you saw that Sans was in the same position you'd left him in. You snorted and shook your head. You crawled into bed next to him and pulled up the blankets around both of you.

Once you joined him, he seemed to snap out of his stupor. He propped himself up with one arm, and you gave him a questioning look.

"So I was wondering…" He started, then paused. Sensing that this was going to be a serious conversation, you sat back up to face him,

"Yeah?"

"I thought of something I'd like to try… if you're okay with it." You saw a sort of excitement in his expression which made it impossible to refuse,

"Depends on what it is, but sure." As soon as you said that, he scooted closer to you,

"Lie down and relax… I wanna try pulling out your soul." Automatically, you flinched at the suggestion. Sans furrowed his brow, "'Course, if you don't want to… Just forget I suggested it…"

"No, no," You said, biting your lip, "I just… why do you want to see my soul?" You remembered having your soul pulled from your body on multiple occasions, and it was never particularly pleasant. Having the most basic, personal part of yourself on display, being gawked at, wasn't very fun. And then, after that one dream…

"I thought, well… There are stories about human souls. I don't really know what's true, but I thought it might be something intimate we could do that doesn't involve…" He was blushing again, and seemed unable to elaborate further. You thought you got the basic gist, though.

"Let's try," You made the executive decision, "If either of us doesn't like it, then no big deal. We just stop." Truthfully, you just didn't want to disappoint Sans. You knew you were being a little hypocritical; you'd told him never to do anything he wasn't comfortable with just to please you, and yet here you were, doing exactly that. But this was different. It wasn't sex, it was… Well, you weren't really sure. All that you'd gotten from his explanation was that it had something to do with your soul.

"Okay, if you're sure," Sans said, his quickness of speech betraying his eagerness to give this a shot; whatever "this" was. Obediently, you laid back and tried to relax as Sans delicately placed a hand on your chest. You were sure he could feel your heart pounding before he drew his hand away, slowly drawing your soul from your body.

As soon as it emerged, you gasped audibly. Not at the feeling of being so utterly exposed, though that was there, too. You were more caught up with the sight of it. Your soul was not a solid purple, like it should've been. Instead, it was a mixture of lilac and white. A sense of unease fluttered in your ribcage; this was the same soul you'd seen in your dream.

"Hey, take it easy," Sans said lowly, heading off your panic at the gates, "It's okay… I thought this might happen."

"H-huh?" You fidgeted, and watched nervously as the contrasting colors in your soul writhed around each other. Sans brought his hand down to rub your hip soothingly,

"It was pretty unlikely that the DTEM would be able to separate the parts of our souls flawlessly… But, look. It's okay, see?" You did as you were told and looked at it apprehensively. It was… Well. You'd only seen your real soul once, and Orion's a handful of times. Though it had initially reminded you of Orion, now that you were looking at it more closely, you could tell that there were differences. Though your soul did look larger than normal, it wasn't nearly the size Orion's had been. And, while theirs had been an even mix of you and Sans, your soul now looked to contain significantly more purple than white. It was mostly you, with just… a little extra.

But a little bit missing, too.

"Can I see _your_ soul?" You asked, calmly and casually. As you settled down, the colors seemed to settle, too. The purple appeared to prefer to gather in the center, while the white parts surrounded it on the outside. Like the bits of Sans' soul were shielding your own.

"What? No," He said, startled by your request, "I mean, ya can't. My soul can't leave my body… It's not like yours."

"How do you know?" You challenged, "If my soul is different, then I bet yours is, too." He huffed an incredulous, disbelieving laugh.

"Well, 'suppose it's only fair that you get to try…" You sat up, forcing him to back up or else bump into your soul. Now that you were more comfortable with how it looked, you weren't so bothered by it being out in the open. This wasn't like the other times, when Undyne or Alphys or Papyrus had seen your soul. This was just you and Sans, and you had no reason to be self-conscious around him. Hell, you'd _shared_ a soul for a long while. It was no skin off your back if he saw yours now.

"...How do I do it?" You asked, suddenly aware that you had no idea how to summon someone's soul. You'd summoned your own in your dream, but was that even possible? Regardless, you didn't think that translated to real life.

"Just… here," Sans gently took your wrist and guided your hand to rest, palm down, on his own sternum, "In theory, it should work if you just will it to. But, y'know… You're a human, with no magic, and I'm a monster, with a soul that can't be summoned. So the odds of this working are-" He was abruptly cut off as you pulled your hand back sharply, taking with you a heart-shaped soul as if it were tied to your hand by an invisible string. Sans wheezed as it burst from his chest. The spots of white in his eyes contracted until they were mere pinpricks.

"Oh, I'm sorry… I should've gone slower," You said, clenching your jaw in worry. You reached out to physically comfort him, but aborted the motion halfway though. You couldn't reach his shoulder without brushing against one of your souls, and you felt instinctively that you shouldn't do that.

While Sans recovered, you found yourself staring at the soul hovering next to yours. They complimented each other perfectly; while yours was larger than it should've been, his was a bit smaller. Yours was mostly purple, where his was mostly white. Wisps of lilac swirled around, darting in circles while the white, vapor-like material shifted to accommodate its quick movements. As Sans calmed down, the purple moved to encapsulate the white, shielding it from outside forces.

With both of your souls out, the bedroom was blanketed in a soft, light purple glow. You and Sans sat across from each other, just staring at the pair of souls breathlessly. Outside, the cold wind rattled your shutters as falling snow beat heavily against the window. Here, though, in the comfort of your own home, you felt warmer than ever.

You were the first to snap out of it, and ducked your head as you let out an airy laugh,

"You were saying?" Sans blinked a few times, then chuckled,

"Heh. Never mind." There was another moment of silence, shorter than the last, before you asked,

"Was this what you wanted to try?" Privately, you thought this wasn't nearly as much as Sans had hyped it up to be. You'd been surprised to see your soul at first, but you were already used to it by now. It seemed to fit, especially when it was sitting right beside Sans'. You felt… at ease, knowing that you each held a part of the other's soul. You were almost glad that the soul separation hadn't worked as intended.

"Not quite," Sans said, and you saw the colors in his soul churn a little, "I wanted to…" He reached out for your soul, and the light from it made his skeletal fingers appear purple. His hand hovered, and he looked up into your eyes. You nodded, and watched as he closed the distance between his body and your soul.

The resulting explosion of feeling was so intense that you doubled over, keening from the intense shock of it. Vaguely, you heard Sans' sharp intake of breath. Your foreheads smashed together, with Sans' soul hovering precariously between your two chests, just barely not touching either of you. You shuddered, and could do nothing but watch, helplessly, as your own memories began to flit through your mind. Like a VHS tape on fast-forward, you saw behind your closed eyelids every significant thing you had done since Orion's passing. Waking up in your own body, feeling the pain and confusion of it all over again. Seeing your parents, feeling their arms around you, and then the crashing wave of sorrow from their rejection. You sobbed and clutched Sans' upper leg in a tight grip, the feeling of his sweatpants and the thick bone underneath grounding you at least somewhat.

Things got better, and worse. A rush of joy as you remembered playing video games at your house with all of your friends. You felt high as you recalled the snowball fight, and then an immediate crash when you fell ill. Silent tears ran down your face as the dreams replayed themselves. Sans groaned, and you felt him pull your soul closer to his own chest. But, like everything else, it quickly passed, and you were onto the next memory.

Eventually, it was all over, and you were left feeling wrung out. You hiccupped wetly, then shivered. Sans was still holding your soul; you could _feel_ it, even though your eyes were still closed. You took shaky breathes, and your heartbeat gradually slowed. Now that it was over, you just felt warm. Like Sans was everywhere, holding you close in every possible way. You sighed, and your grip on his leg loosened until your hand slipped off of him entirely. You didn't need the physical tether anymore. Now that you were caught up with the present, this felt… Well, in a word, it was nice.

"I'm glad," Sans mumbled, and you hummed. You were as surprised as you could be in such a calm, zen-like state.

 _Can you hear me?_ You asked silently, talking to him like you used to when you were Orion. There was a long moment of silence. So long, that you thought it hadn't worked. But then, Sans spoke in a whisper,

"Yeah… guessin' it doesn't work the other way around, though. You didn't answer me."

 _Sorry. Maybe I have to touch yours…?_ With great effort, you opened your eyes halfway. You tried to lift your hand, but your limbs felt like lead.

"Wait, let's just do this…" You watched as, slowly, Sans guided your soul closer to his own. You only had a second to register what he was doing before you saw your two souls come together.

It happened all over again, but with your roles reversed. Memories, emotions, thoughts that weren't yours flashed through your mind. You felt the pain and fear that had come when Sans had suddenly felt that you had gone from his body, and saw within seconds everything that had happened since that day from Sans' perspective. You saw Sans' hands as they carefully shaved your head, felt his hopelessness as he watched you grow weaker and weaker by the day. Then, the immense relief when Papyrus was able to heal you. Followed almost immediately by devastation when you fell sick. His thoughts and feelings were so closely tied to your unstable health; like a rowboat desperately struggling to stay afloat on a rough, unpredictable sea. You felt him cry and shake uncontrollably until his memories caught up to the present. You tried to send soothing feelings his way, and found yourself making a shushing sound as you did so. Eventually, he settled down, just as you had.

For a while, your thoughts mingled together clumsily. You felt, strangely, as if you had two bodies. You could feel Sans' hand gripping your hip as if it were _your_ hand, touching yourself. You felt what it was like to be made of bones again, and reveled in sensations that you'd never thought you'd feel again. Sans, meanwhile, was experiencing something entirely new. You felt his wonder as he took stock of your body, getting particularly caught up in the feeling of your heartbeat in your chest.

"You're amazing," To your surprise, you felt your own mouth forming the words. You and Sans spoke them at the same time, even though it was definitely Sans who had meant them. Curiously, you tried to raise Sans' hand, yourself. It was too difficult to separate your own body from his, though, and both of you ended up raising your hands at the same time.

 _Feels weird,_ Sans thought, and you agreed. Next, you wondered if you could use Sans' magic. You'd been able to when you were Orion, and this experience felt very similar to that.

 _Let's not push it this first time,_ He advised, and you felt a thrill at the suggestion that he wanted to do this again. Hesitantly, you opened your eyes, and were thankful that Sans kept his closed as you did so. You had the feeling that seeing out of two sets of eyes would be very disorienting. You saw your two souls pressed together, glowing so brightly that you had to squint to look at them. Your hands were still raised, and you tried to bring them together. The skeletal hand moved at the same time as the flesh-covered one, and they crashed together harder than you'd intended. After some fumbling, you managed to twine your fingers together.

 _Can we sleep like this?_ You asked, wanting to feel what it was like to dream with him again. Both of your faces smiled.

 _Yeah, let's try it,_ With some difficulty, the two of you managed to coordinate your bodies well enough to lay down together. You laid facing each other, with your souls resting side-by-side in the space between your chests. Your legs were tangled together to the point where you had no hope of telling whose were whose. You concentrated on your breathing, making Sans' chest expand and contract in time with yours. It took only moments for both of you to fall into an easy sleep, feeling that everything was right with the world now that your souls were together again.


	10. Auribus Teneo Lupum

Sans' legs bounced up and down impatiently as he watched the clock. You'd left at six, and it was now eight-thirty. The meeting was only supposed to last two hours… What was taking so long? Maybe you hadn't seen his text; maybe you didn't know he had gone to Toriel's house. Should he go back home? No… He couldn't stand it there without you. And you always looked at your phone. You'd see it, even if it wasn't until you got home and noticed that he wasn't there.

He watched, tapping his fingers on his knees, as Toriel exited Frisk's room and quietly closed the door. She'd insisted that the kid go to bed at their usual bedtime. No matter how much they'd whined and begged, she wouldn't let them stay up and play another game with Sans. He had a feeling it was because Tori wanted to talk to him about something serious. She'd been shooting him odd looks ever since he got here. Sure enough, she padded over to the couch and sat next to him. She put a hand over his restless fingers,

"Relax, dear. I am sure the meeting is simply running long." Remembering himself, Sans shook off Tori's hand and leaned back into a more casual pose.

"'Course. They probably found something to argue with Reives about. Guessin' they'll have a story to tell when they get back home." Toriel gave him a long, searching look. Sans didn't fidget under it, but maintained his relaxed posture expertly.

"How are the two of you doing? Forgive me if I am being presumptuous, but you appear to be rather… close." Sans chuckled at her wording. "Close" was an understatement, and he was sure she knew that. Even Toriel laughed along with him, "Well, how would you have liked me to put it?"

"Nah, that's just fine… We're doing fine." Tori raised a brow,

"...Just fine?" Sans grinned and shrugged. He wasn't about to go into detail. The two of you hadn't talked about it per se, unless you counted the free-flowing thoughts between your conjoined minds. But neither of you wished for any of your friends to know about your... _activities_ , which had become a nightly ritual.

The truth was that things were more than fine; they were great. The soul merging… sharing… whatever it was you were doing… had to have been one of the best ideas Sans had ever come up with. He no longer had to wonder what you were thinking or feeling. He didn't have to be paranoid that you were hiding something from him, like you so often used to hide your physical ailments before you found that Papyrus could heal them. Not that he didn't trust you. Far, _far_ from it. He had to trust you in order to share with you such an integral part of himself. He could never imagine taking such a leap with anyone else. Of course, with you, he had practice. Once you got caught up with each other's memories, soul sharing felt an awful lot like just being Orion. If he hadn't had that experience with you, he didn't know if he'd be comfortable with the soul stuff. But now, it was almost a… comforting feeling. Like coming home.

But he couldn't tell Toriel any of that. No one would understand. As far as he knew, no two people had ever done this before. Monsters couldn't usually separate their souls from their bodies. Maybe humans used to bump souls back when they knew a thing or two about magic, but they certainly didn't anymore. Point being that, even if he could've found words to express what the two of you did at night, he would've been met with a blank stare.

So, instead of getting into it, he laughed and put his feet up on the coffee table,

"Well, more than fine, I'd say." Oddly, Tori's smile seemed strained. Did she disapprove? Immediately, Sans went on the defensive, "What, you got a problem?"

"Oh! No, I would not say that," Toriel's eyes were wide, startled by Sans' confrontational tone, "I am merely… concerned. Your… companion seems to be doing fine for themself, but I sometimes find myself worrying about you, dear." With a huff, Sans crossed his arms and tensed up even more,

"How so?"

"Well," She glanced over at Frisk's closed door, then lowered her voice, "I am worried that you are not living your own life, my friend. You pass each day simply following them around, as if you were still in one body. I take it they usually decided where to go and what to do, correct?"

Sans clenched his jaw. It took a lot for him not to get up and take the nearest shortcut out of there. Because the truth was… She was kind of right, in a twisted way. He did follow you around and you did make most of the decisions, both now and when you'd been Orion. But you were both happier that way. You hated being controlled; you feared confinement more than anything. He saw it in your nightmares, in the deepest recesses of your mind. Meanwhile, Sans was just lazy. He didn't like making decisions, and hated dealing with the consequences of those decisions even more. It was easier to let you take control. He'd fought it at first; he remembered, with fondness, the days when he'd take over Orion's body and you'd grumble about him being a "control freak." But he quickly learned that it was easier to just let you do things. Why not, when it benefitted you both?

Tori wouldn't get that, though. When he said nothing, she took it as confirmation.

"The two of you are not in an equitable relationship. You are giving more, and they are taking. I am sure they do not mean to take advantage of you… I know when Asgore and I-"

"No offense, but we're nothing like you and Asgore," He growled, "You wouldn't understand, so don't go tryin' to give us advice," Right on time, Sans' phone buzzed. It was you. Of course it was; no one else ever texted him. He looked away from Toriel, who was sitting, stiffly, beside him, and focused on the message you'd sent him.

" _Back. I'm at home, want me to come over?"_ He typed back quickly, his skeleton fingers tapping out a fast rhythm on the keys,

" _No, I'm leaving. Be right there."_ When he looked back up, he saw that Tori was watching him with a sad expression. It irritated him.

"I gotta go," He stood, itching to get back home to you.

"I see," She replied simply, sighing almost imperceptibly. Sans opened a shortcut, but paused. He turned back to look at Tori. He was smiling, but his eyes were dark and blank,

"Never talk to either of us about this again." He didn't bother waiting for her reaction before disappearing from sight.


	11. For Your Entertainment

Finally, Wolfe managed to schedule a date and location for the town meeting between the monsters and humans in South Ebott. January 5th, in the gymnasium of the small town's only high school. You, Asgore, Reives, and Wolfe spent the whole meeting beforehand talking logistics, while Undyne and Charlie leaned back in their chairs, looking bored. You'd pushed for mandatory background checks on all of the humans wanting to go, and the agents grudgingly acquiesced. The gym was, apparently, rather small, which was good in your opinion. Not many people would be allowed in, so there was less of a chance that someone wishing to do harm could slip by security. Unfortunately, the agents did insist on allowing a few reporters into the event. You weren't sure how you felt about that, knowing what you did about how the media could twist things. Asgore was enthusiastic about spreading the good word about monsters, though, and you couldn't very well warn him in front of Reives and Wolfe.

You found yourself growing more and more nervous about it as the day crept closer. Far more so than you had been for the field trip way back when you'd been Orion. You'd played a large part in setting this one up, and you desperately wanted it to go well. It was really your first test as an ambassador, and you wanted to show Asgore that you could do this. And Reives, if you were being honest, though you were loathe to admit that you wanted to impress him.

Your nights with Sans were like an oasis in the desert of anxiety. The soul sharing, as you'd taken to calling it, became a nightly ritual. Sans' calm, easy-going nature tempered your worries. When thoughts were tumbling around uncontrollably in your mind, he'd surround you with soothing vibes to bring you back to Earth. It was just like when you'd shared a body… Or at least, when you'd shared a body and gotten along with each other. The nice thing was that, instead of being forced to occupy the same mindspace 24/7, you were able to spend time apart. You actually looked forward to soul-sharing, rather than getting annoyed with Sans constantly reading your thoughts. You had the ability to escape that during the day, and it created a much less antagonistic relationship between the two of you.

When you were worried about things like the upcoming town meeting, you usually slept less and dreamed more. They weren't pleasant dreams, either; nightmares about being trapped, being held down, being crushed by walls closing in around you, all tended to feature heavily in your stress dreaming repertoire. But, with Sans in your mind with you, he'd interrupt those dreams before they even started. Instead, you'd dream of flying. Or walking on the bottom of the ocean. Or lying on a bed of straw as you watched birds flitting between the rafters of an old barn. You hadn't realized just how many good memories you had as Orion until Sans was there to point them out to you.

You felt bad that Sans was always the one soothing you, and not the other way around. But he insisted that you helped him, too. You weren't sure how, but he seemed happy every time your souls came together. So you took his word for it.

The night before the town meeting, you had a stress dream about being locked outside of the camp. A giant, medieval-looking stone wall ran along the border, separating you from the monsters. Faceless human guards leered at you from the battlements as you cried for them to let you in. Before the dream could develop any further, Sans interfered by willing the wall to melt to the ground. The trees around you groaned and creaked as they were uprooted, moving further away from you to form walls and pillars. The ground hardened and smoothed, morphing before your eyes into golden tiles. When you looked up, you realized where you were.

"Judgement hall? Odd choice," Your voice echoed as you spoke to Sans, who you found leaning sideways against one of the marble pillars. He stepped out of the shadows with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing his old clothes, but they looked new again. The blue hoodie that was still hanging in Orion's closet, now ripped up beyond repair. The gym shorts, also in Orion's room. And the pink slippers, which were lost forever in another timeline. They silenced his footsteps as he walked to the center of the hall.

"Hmm… Didn't mean to bring us here," He frowned, then closed his eyes and shrugged, "Ah, well. Can't always pick your dreams."

"This isn't a nightmare, is it?" You asked, crossing your arms. The golden light from the windows shined brightly off of Sans' bones, making him look almost like he was glowing.

"Never a nightmare when you're here, sugar," He winked and gave you a silly grin. You rolled your eyes and closed the gap between you, satisfied that this wasn't going to be one of his bad dreams. You wrapped your arms around him and buried your face in his hoodie. It smelled fresh and clean; if you'd needed another sign that this wasn't reality, then that would've been it.

"Wish I knew how you did that. I'd change your dreams, if I could figure out how," You said into the fabric of his clothes. Whenever Sans was having a nightmare, you were always helpless to do anything. But then, his nightmares typically involved you in some way… You killing him, or you controlling Frisk who was killing him. You were always forced to observe from inside of your own body, incapable of stopping yourself. Perhaps your dreams were easier to change because they weren't usually based in reality.

"Think you hit that on the nose," Sans commented on your thoughts, a habit of his which had long since stopped being disconcerting to you, "But, hey… don't worry about it. It's the same sort of crap we dreamed about as Orion. I'm used to it, you're used to it…" He paused, assessing your feelings before amending, "Well, I'm used to it, at least." You hummed and nuzzled your face into his shoulder,

"I miss this hoodie." Sans laughed, and you felt it rumbling in his chest,

"Pretty sure you're getting that from me, not you." You paused to think about it, and found that he was probably right. You only missed it because it was important to Sans and, therefore, important to you. Sleeping while soul-sharing always had interesting results.

"We should probably wake up… I think my alarm's about to go off," Your circadian rhythm was rarely ever wrong. Unlike Sans, who had no rhythm in any sense of the word.

"If you say so," Even as he spoke, you started to feel the judgement hall falling away. Everything slowly turned fuzzy and indistinct until only Sans remained. You gradually emerged from sleep and found yourself in a familiar position; with your arms around Sans and your face buried in his shirt. You felt his chin digging into the top of your head and his arm draped over your shoulders, but, from another perspective, you also felt a warm body pressed up against your front and the tickle of short hair on your mandible. You both opened your eyes at the same time, then winced and quickly shut them again. Coordinating two bodies... feeling everything that both of them felt... was still a strange and, at times, nauseating experience.

You both decided arbitrarily to open the skeleton body's eyes. Through Sans' eye sockets, you saw your two souls hovering above your shared bed. They were pressed together, beating in sync. You reached a bony hand up, thinking hard about it so as to keep the human hand from following its lead. The skeletal fingers slipped between the souls, gently easing them apart-

You flinched and gasped as you suddenly found yourself snapping back into your own body. Your eyes flew open and, as usual, you felt dizzy. Your stomach twisted uncomfortably. You reached up and pulled your soul back into your chest.

"Good?" Sans asked, already sitting up and straightening his shirt, which had somehow ridden up to his chest in the middle of the night.

"In a minute," You pressed your face into the pillow, willing the physical discomfort to go away. Sans never seemed to have this issue, but you always felt a little ill after separating your souls. Still, it was more than worth the temporary nausea.

"Alright, alright… If this is your way to get me to make you breakfast, you win," Sans patted your butt affectionately, making you giggle before he got up from the bed. You listened to him moving around the room, but didn't look up from the pillow until you heard him leave.

"Oh, by the way," Sans surprised you by poking his head back through the doorway, "I ain't gonna let anyone head back to camp without you. There's no way in hell. So don't worry about stuff like that, m'kay?" You blushed and smiled, feeling silly now that it was out in the open like that. You were going to be leaving camp today, and you supposed your unconscious mind had dreamt up the worst possible scenario; that you'd be left behind in the human world, unable to get back in.

"Roger that." As soon as the words left your mouth, your alarm started beeping obnoxiously. You jumped and scrambled to turn it off. By the time that fiasco was over, Sans had already left the room again.

After prying yourself from the warm bed, you took a shower, got dressed, and ate the breakfast Sans had made for you. The rest of the morning flew by and, before you knew it, you were standing around in the cold, feeling drowsy and wishing you were still asleep. You scuffed the toe of your boot on the ground, making yourself a little indent in the snow. You were only half-listening as Charlie addressed everyone who was gathered around on the road. He was explaining how things were going to go to the monsters, most of whom already knew after having heard it all from you. Only Mettaton was really in need of the crash course, and he was more concerned with making sure he had enough battery life in his humanoid body to last the day. You tuned in toward the end of Charlie's speech, as he struggled to figure out how all of you were going to fit on the helicopter.

"Okay, well… I guess we can go in two shifts," He scratched his head, "We can split the guards up between the monsters. King Asgore should go in the first group…" You perked up, linking arms with Sans and shouting to be heard over the idling helicopter in the middle of the street,

"We'll go with him!" In the end, you, Sans, Asgore, Papyrus, Charlie, and Hernandez took the first flight, leaving Undyne, Alphys, and Mettaton to ride with Daujatas, Green, and Samuelsson. It was the same five guards as had accompanied the monsters the last time they took a trip to South Ebott, but the atmosphere between them seemed tenser this time. You hadn't noticed until now, but they weren't rowdy or talking amongst each other today. You didn't have much time to contemplate it before you were ushered into the helicopter.

You ended up sandwiched between two skeletons, which was just fine by you. You wanted to be as close to the middle as you could get; far away from all windows and doors.

"Sibling! Please do not throw up, as you threatened to do last time!" You cringed at Papyrus' loud comment. Luckily, Charlie and Hernandez had turned around to talk to the pilot. They seemed not to have heard.

"You must be thinking of someone else, Pap. I've never been on a helicopter before." You spoke carefully, hoping Papyrus would get it. He gasped,

"Oh! You are correct, my mistake!" He winked, but you didn't reply. You wanted the conversation to end before the officers turned back around.

The rest of the helicopter ride was uneventful, if you didn't count the persistent fear of death for a solid 20 minutes. It didn't help that the pilot had seemed worried before takeoff. Asgore was rather large, and he thought the King might exceed the helicopter's weight limit. It had taken some coercing from Charlie and Hernandez to get him to fly you all down the mountain.

You kept your eyes trained forward for the whole ride, staring at your cane, which rested securely between your knees, for the entire time. You had big headphones on to block out the deafening noise, so you couldn't hear any reassurances that Sans might've offered you. He didn't try to hold your hand or anything, either; probably because Charlie and Hernandez were right in front of you. You didn't think the physical comfort would've done much good for your churning stomach, anyway.

Eventually… mercifully… you landed on solid ground. You required some help getting out of the helicopter; you'd been so tense during the ride that your muscles and joints were aching. Hernandez, who'd been the first to jump out, had been about to offer you his hand before Sans quickly lifted you with his magic and lowered you down, himself. You yelped in surprise as the magic engulfed you, setting you down on your feet gently. It was hard to get used to the feeling of floating weightlessly as someone else controlled your momentum. You glared back at Sans, who gave you a shit-eating grin from where he stood in the doorway of the chopper. Charlie, who'd watched the whole exchange, was frowning. He looked deep in thought.

"What?" You asked once you noticed his staring. He shook his head,

"Just watch it… Remember, people here don't know about this magic stuff. Don't go doin' it in front of them." Sans joined you on the ground and gave Charlie a salute,

"Aye aye, officer." Charlie furrowed his brow, still looking like something was on his mind,

"Uh huh." As the last couple stragglers were getting out of the helicopter, you took a shaky step forward and took in your surroundings. This time, the chopper had taken you right to your destination; the high school parking lot. Even though it was the middle of the day, the place was empty. But, then again, it was a Saturday, so kids didn't have school. The high school here was much smaller than the one you'd gone to, even though it was supposedly the only one in town. You looked over at Charlie skeptically. He'd said before that he hailed from South Ebott… Had he gone to this school? The small town life just didn't seem to suit him.

When Charlie didn't catch your side-eye, you gave up and looked away again. You stuffed your left hand in your pocket, wishing you'd brought a glove for your right. You let out a breath, which puffed up into a white cloud in the cold. The air smelled different here. Not bad, just not the same as in the mountains. It felt so surreal to be outside of camp. Being out here as Orion and being here in your own body was a night and day difference. Again, not a bad difference, but just different. Maybe part of it was the change in season, but you were pretty sure there was more to it.

"Feeling nostalgic?" Sans sidled up to you and nodded toward the school.

"For high school? Hell no," You laughed. Public school had been torture for you… You'd never catch yourself reminiscing about it. For possibly the first time, Sans had incorrectly guessed what you'd been thinking. You tried not to read too much into it.

"Alright, folks… Let's get going. Gotta clear the area so the bird can take off again," Hernandez said as he waved his arms, shepherding your small group toward the school. Asgore walked up beside you,

"This is quite intriguing… To see what humans have done with thousands of years," He murmured contemplatively. You had forgotten that this was Asgore's first time leaving the camp, and that he was one of the few monsters who remembered humanity before the barrier had been created.

"Well, there's a lot more to it than just this," You said, feeling self-conscious about the small, almost rural school. Asgore chuckled, and you looked up to see a glint in his eye,

"I believe you, and I hope that, one day, my people will be able to see everything your people have done. That is, after all, why we are here today." You nodded and looked forward resolutely,

"Right."

As it turned out, the school was a little bit bigger than you'd initially thought. The helicopter had landed in the smaller, back parking lot, leaving the main lot free for the attending humans and spectators to roam.

"This way, we don't have to walk past the crowd of people in the front," Hernandez explained happily to anyone who was listening while Charlie went to open the back door. He was stopped short, however, when the door remained firmly shut. He tugged on it again, but to no avail.

"It's locked," You pointed out, and Charlie glared at you,

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," He cupped his hands to the tiny window to peer through it, "Damn, I told them to leave it unlocked… Don't suppose any of you have any magical door unlocking powers, do you?" He looked at the three monsters hopefully,

"Pap and I could probably blow it off its hinges," Sans suggested, and Papyrus' face lit up at the prospect of being helpful.

"No!" Charlie said with a grimace, "Let's just walk around the front, I guess. How bad can it be?"

The answer was "pretty bad." As soon as the six of you got around to the front of the building, your senses were bombarded by the sight and sound of what had to have been hundreds of humans. You were shocked that so many people even lived in South Ebott. The crowd was quartered off, confined to the front parking lot by waist-high fences. Armed police officers lining the fence had to keep people from bowling it over when they caught sight of your group rounding the corner.

You froze, suddenly engulfed in the blinding camera flashes and indistinct, excited shouts. You and the monsters instinctively huddled closer together. You could feel Papyrus' bones rattling when his arm pressed up against yours. Asgore seemed to gather himself first and, with a determined look, urged the rest of your group to follow Charlie.

You shuffled forward, hyper aware of every movement you made. You watched, wide-eyed, as an officer stopped a man from climbing the fence. The human looked red-faced and angry, though you couldn't hear what he was shouting over all of the other voices. A few reporters pressed to the front of the crowd, desperately holding out microphones as they tried to ask you questions over the bedlam.

It felt like years before you finally made it to the front door. Charlie held it open as the rest of you hurried inside. The click of the door shutting echoed down the hallway, instantly muffling all of the outside voices to a dull murmur. Your group let out a collective sigh of relief, including your human guards.

"Sorry about that, guys… It'll be better in here. We're not gonna go past those protesters again." You nodded at Charlie's reassurances, staring at your feet. Seeing all of those people, hearing them yelling at you… You'd completely lost your nerve. How were you going to face anyone now? You were just glad you hadn't been able to hear what any of those humans were saying. Oh, God… What if your parents had been in the crowd? You hadn't seen them, but you had kept your head down most of the time. Was that a blessing, or should you have been looking? You glanced nervously over your shoulder at the door.

"Hey," Sans muttered, bumping his shoulder into yours. Everyone else had started walking down the empty hallway, but the two of you hung back, "Don't worry about it. It's behind us." You pursed your lips and nodded. Sans was right.

"C'mon, we better catch up," You grabbed his wrist and tugged him forward, your cane tapping quickly on the linoleum floor while you hurried to catch up to everyone else. You reached the rest of the group right as they walking up to a big set of double doors.

"Alright, everyone know the game plan?" Charlie asked, and you all nodded. You and Sans were a little out of breath from speed-walking. "Good. And…" The officer looked around before lowering his voice, "Whatever you do, don't use any of that freaky magic shit, okay? If anyone's giving you trouble, you holler for one of us." Papyrus nodded again eagerly, but you caught Sans and Asgore glancing at each other. Even as they agreed, you knew that the two of them would not hesitate to use magic if it ended up being needed. You just hoped it wouldn't come to that. You'd gotten away with it once, and you didn't think you'd be so lucky again.

"Okay, then… Let's go," Charlie said with a crooked grin before throwing the double doors open with more gusto than was strictly necessary.

A crowd of faces turned to look as your mismatched crew of humans and monsters shuffled inside. A few quiet whispers and flashing cameras met you, but compared to the masses of people outside, this didn't feel nearly as overwhelming. You'd probably given presentations to groups larger than this. But, still, you felt uncomfortable with the whole situation. Luckily, the attention seemed to be mostly focused on the monsters in your group, not on the odd human among them.

"Hello, everyone," Asgore said, his deep voice echoing through the gym with ease. You looked up at him, and saw him scanning the crowd with a smile, "We are still waiting for a few people to arrive, so do not stop your conversations on our account," With the King's permission, the dull whispering grew into hushed speaking. Some people looked away out of courtesy, but many just kept staring.

"Well, this is cozy," Sans commented, and you snorted. Papyrus must've heard and gave him a cross look,

"Do not be discouraged, brother! All we need to do is approach the humans with friendly conversation, like what I did with those master chefs at the restaurant!" He puffed up his chest proudly. You do distinctly remember Papyrus running to the kitchen at Luini's and scaring the cooks half to death. If that was how he planned to make friends…

"Here, just follow my lead!" With that, the tall skeleton bounded off into the crowd. The humans who saw him and had heard what he'd said fell back, while a few unsuspecting people were still unaware of his approach. He headed toward a group of middle-aged men with their backs to him,

"Pap, wait up-" Sans followed behind him worriedly, and you were about to do the same when you heard a voice yell your name from across the gym.

You turned, startled, and saw a woman around your age frantically waving her arms in your direction. She was short, so you only got a brief glance at her face through the crowd, but that was enough for you to recognize who it was.

"Remi?!" You furrowed your brow and looked around. You couldn't see Sans anymore, but you assumed he was with Papyrus, who towered over all of the humans. He was making wild, excited gestures at the cluster of humans who had gathered around him. People were smiling and laughing, so you assumed everything was going alright. Meanwhile, Asgore was speaking to the few local reporters who had been allowed into the gathering. Charlie was standing by the door, and Hernandez was nowhere to be seen.

You figured you weren't needed anywhere, so you pushed through the mass of people, looking for Remi. You'd lost sight of her… But she hadn't been _that_ far away. The gym was pretty small, surely you could find her…

Once you reached the folded-up bleachers at the edge of the gym, a pair of arms wrapped around you from behind. You twisted around, ready to bash whoever it was over the head with your cane, but stopped yourself when you saw who it was.

"Oh my god! I can't believe you're here!" Remi squeezed the life out of you, and you laughed and threw your arms around her in return,

"Long time no see, huh?" You pulled back to get a good look at her. She didn't look any different from the last time you'd seen her; which was when you and a bunch of friends had gone camping on Mount Ebott. Meeting her here, after eight months… It felt surreal.

"Dude! I barely recognized you… That hair!" She rubbed the top of your fuzzy head, and you swatted her hand away with a grin.

"Is anyone else here?" You looked around, worried but excited by the possibility of reuniting with more of your old friends. You were in a pretty sparse area of the gym; most of the guests were crowded around Asgore or Papyrus. But you still received some weird looks from strangers who were hanging around on the outskirts.

"No… Ander wanted to come, but they couldn't get a ticket. And Cody was gonna come with me, but he didn't pass the background checks…" Remi couldn't meet your eyes, and you frowned,

"What do you mean?" Logically, you knew what that meant. You'd been the one to create the background checks, after all. If he couldn't pass them, then that meant…

"Well, I mean… Cody _may_ have gone to an anti-monster rally _one_ time, and none of our other friends live in South Ebott, so-"

"Wait, he did? Why?" Remi scuffed her foot on the worn, gym floor before answering,

"Well, y'know… You kinda disappeared on us. All of us who were there…" She looked around as though making sure no one was listening, "We all felt pretty responsible. And then, when the monsters showed up, it was like we could finally stop blaming ourselves. I mean, it's pretty easy to blame them instead. But then you came back… And, if you say it's not their fault, then 'course I believe you," Remi gave you a tentative smile, "But… not everyone's ready to do that."

You crossed your arms and stared at the floor. You'd been so busy thinking about yourself and your parents that you hadn't even considered what your friends would think of all of this. There were so many more people affected by this than you'd realized...

You and Remi had been friends since high school. She was one of the few people who'd known you before you'd played Undertale, and thus one of the few who you hadn't managed to drive away when you were soulless. You were on bad terms with all of your other high school friends, though there weren't very many to begin with. But Remi had stuck with you, even when you'd been… well. Kind of a jerk.

"Sorry, Remi." You looked up from your feet, and she waved you off,

"Aw, don't apologize. It's not your fault you got lost in a cave full of monsters. That must've sucked," You laughed, leaning on your cane as you doubled over,

"Man, you have no idea," You paused, then added, "Thanks for coming to see me…" Remi scoffed, then threw her arm around your shoulders,

"I didn't come to see _you_ , nerd. I came to see the monsters!" She gestured to Asgore, still standing near the doorway, now accompanied by Undyne, Alphys, and Mettaton. You stuck your tongue out at your friend, but were distracted from answering by Sans suddenly appearing at your other side,

"There you are, I was looking for-" Sans cut himself short when he noticed your friend. He looked from her to you, "Hey, is that-"

"Remi!" You interrupted him before he could give himself away. It'd be pretty hard to explain how a monster knew your best friend by sight when they'd never met, "She's one of my friends from school. Remi, this is Sans," You pulled back from your friend and watched her wide-eyed expression carefully. Sans stuck out his hand, and Remi looked him up and down before tentatively taking it. You tried not to judge her too harshly for her hesitancy; you remembered you'd been startled the first time you saw Sans, too. In fact, you distinctly recalled attacking him with your cane. So at least her reaction was better than yours.

"Nice to-" Remi started, but was cut off by a loud, flatulent noise. She recoiled, and Sans held up his whoopee-cushioned hand with a wink. You snorted and ducked your head, trying and failing to hide your laughter.

"Nice to meet you, too," Sans said, and Remi finally got over her shock and laughed. Thankfully, you knew she loved stupid jokes. With that in mind, you figured she and Sans would get along just fine.

"Oh my god, I need one of those," She grabbed Sans' wrist and examined the whoopee-cushion, "That's hilarious… So much better than those shock button things."

"Ironically, I think the old whoopee-cushion-in-the-hand trick is more _shocking_ ," Remi giggled again and let go of his arm. Before Sans could make any more puns, you caught sight of Asgore slowly making his way over to you through the crowd. You poked Sans, who turned around to look.

"Hello… Are you all enjoying yourselves?" The King looked between you, Sans, and Remi, who looked to be in awe. Being even shorter than you, she had to strain her neck in order to look up at him. You smiled, having forgotten how impressive Asgore appeared on first sight. In reality, the guy was a big softie.

"Yeah… This is Remi, one of my friends," The King smiled warmly at her,

"Well, any friend of yours is a friend of mine, of course," Asgore held out his hand. Remi tilted her head as though to check for more hidden whoopee-cushions before shaking it, "Thank you for coming to this event, Remi," There was a pause, as Remi seemed too shocked to answer.

"O-oh, uh, you're welcome!" She squeaked, and you snickered. It felt odd, having your human friend meet your monster friends. But, in a way, you were strangely proud. Sure, it turned out that most of your human friends hated monsters, but _this_ one didn't, so at least that was something.

"Now that everyone is here, I believe I will be making my statement shortly," Asgore turned to you and Sans, "I would like you two to be up there with me, if that is alright."

"Sure!" You said, a spike of nervousness fluttering in your stomach. You hoped Asgore didn't expect you to say anything… You didn't have anything prepared. Before you could worry about it too much, Remi wrapped her arms around you again,

"I'm glad we got to meet up… Don't be a stranger, okay? There's so much else I wanted to tell you…" You patted her back, and she squeezed you tighter. Honestly, you didn't know when you'd be able to get in touch with Remi or any of your friends again. You had no way of contacting them from camp, and you couldn't leave camp unless there was another event like this. But, instead of being truthful, you agreed,

"Yeah, totally." After hearing your confirmation, Remi pulled back and clapped you on the shoulder,

"Alright, go do your ambassador stuff, then. It was nice to meet you, Sans and King Asgore," She nodded to the monsters respectfully, looking proud of herself that she'd managed to form words in front of them. You had to fight back a laugh as you all said your goodbyes and ventured back into the crowd. You looked back over your shoulder as you walked away, but Remi was quickly swallowed by the mass of people trying to get a look at you and your monster friends. Briefly, you wondered when, or even if, you would ever see her again. Or any of your other friends, for that matter. It was discomforting to think of how much everything had changed in such a short time.

With Asgore parting the crowd for you and Sans, the three of you made it to the front of the gym in good time. There was a big podium, which was obviously chosen because of the King's size. Even so, he dwarfed the thing when he stood up to it. His presence at the front of the gym caused a hush to fall over the human crowd. From where you stood, you could see that the monsters had really started intermingling with the humans. Papyrus and Mettaton were on opposite ends of the gym, surrounded by people and reporters. Alphys was probably somewhere in the back, where there was a small cluster of humans gathered around. Undyne was making her way from there to where you, Sans, and Asgore were standing.

"Hey punk," She jabbed you in the shoulder before making her way around Asgore to stand at his right. As soon as everyone was in place and the room was quiet, Asgore cleared his throat,

"Hello, everyone," He began, while you stood quietly with your hands clasped in front of you. You stared straight ahead, trying not to glance nervously at all of the cameras and phones being pointed at you, "Thank you all for inviting us into your town. This is the first official gathering of humans and monsters, and you cannot imagine how happy I am to see everyone getting along so well," You glanced to your right to see Asgore beaming. He was always so genuine, and you could see most of the humans in the crowd smiling with him like it was infectious, "I have high hopes for the continued friendship between our species.

"Your kind have forgotten over the millennia which have passed, but there was a time when humans and monsters lived together in peace. I remember humanity as being a resourceful, stubborn group, and I see that little has changed," There were some chuckles in the crowd, as well as some uneasy looks as people tried to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Asgore didn't clarify, "I think we all have something to offer each other, be it knowledge, resources, or friendship.

"I firmly believe that everyone is good at their core, including the people outside who call for our slaughter," Discomfort rippled through the largely pro-monster crowd, but Asgore continued on as though he didn't notice it, "I ask that you show patience and kindness to your fellows, whom you may disagree with. To those who are in agreement with the mobs at our gates, I ask that you extend those same feelings to my people as we struggle to make a home on the surface. If we all make an effort to understand each other, I believe we can return to an age of peace and harmony," Asgore paused, his smile warm and full of optimism. He nodded, as though reaffirming what he had just said, "Thank you for your time. I would now be happy to answer any questions you may have."

Once he opened the floor to questions, dozens of hands shot into the air. Voices rose up, then quieted down when Asgore pointed at a man with his hand up near the front,

"All due respect, sir, but I do not believe you have addressed the issue that is on the minds of most anti-monster protesters. Two humans now have emerged from your underground home…" You felt all eyes turn to you, and you tried not to fidget under the unwanted attention, "...And neither of them have been forthcoming about what happens down there. Can you really say, with certainty, that none of the people who have gone missing around these mountains are still trapped down there? And, if these cases are monster-related kidnappings, what could've happened to them?"

There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd. People's eyes shifted between you and Asgore, and you wondered if you should say something. The guy was right; you hadn't talked publically about what happened underground. And how could you? Anything you said had to be a lie, since there was no way to explain what had happened without sounding like you were delusional. Your mind was suddenly blank, so you looked to Asgore helplessly. Thankfully, he saved you from having to say anything,

"Well, I can assure you that there was never any kidnapping involved. There is simply no way any monster could have ever forced someone to fall into the Underground. In both cases you bring up, this was merely an unfortunate accident," You cast your eyes downward, knowing that Asgore was lying, too. You couldn't speak for Frisk, but you knew your fall wasn't an accident. But Chara pushing you hardly counted as kidnapping, either, so you kept your mouth shut, "As for whether there are any other humans among us… I can say with the utmost confidence that there are none," There was some whispering among the crowd before someone near the back shouted to be heard,

"How do you know for sure?" Someone else piped up,

"Yeah, and how do we know you're telling the truth?"

Asgore frowned. He was silent for a long moment before speaking slowly,

"Well… There has been some talk of allowing a group of humans to come and see the Underground. Perhaps we could turn it into a sort of search party… Then, you may see for yourselves that there are no humans being held captive," A fevered excitement washed over the gym. You'd assumed that people would be curious about the Underground, but you hadn't figured that they'd be _this_ eager to see it. The humans whispered back and forth to each other, and you overheard a couple of the people near the front saying that they wanted to go.

"I'd give my right arm to see that,"

"Can you imagine? I wonder what it's like!"

You looked up at Asgore with a wary expression. It had been your own idea to let humans into the Underground, but you were beginning to wonder if that had been the right call. If they were just going to treat the monsters like fascinating animals in a zoo…

Asgore caught your look and gave you a reassuring smile in return. It was all he offered before addressing the crowd again,

"If there are no other questions…" Hands shot up, even more than the first time. The King paused, then amended, "I will not be taking questions about the Underground trip at this time. As of right now, nothing is set in stone, and I have no answers for you," Several hands went back down. The King gestured toward a young woman near the wall. You couldn't see her face from where you stood, so you didn't realize that it was Remi until you heard her voice,

"This town meeting thing is all well and good, but when are monsters going to be allowed to live in town with everyone else? It must be depressing, being stuck in a little camp on the mountain," _That_ garnered mixed reactions from the other humans. Even though the room was almost exclusively full of monster supporters, many of them looked unhappy… or at least, uneasy… about the prospect of monsters living among them. You heard one person in the back let out a 'Whoop!' in agreement, but they were in the minority. As usual, Asgore considered the question with scrutiny before answering,

"You are correct, our current situation is not ideal. But, as I said earlier, we must have patience. Whatever the future may hold, I am confident that it will be to the liking of both humans and monsters."

You thought he'd dodged the question fairly well, but his answer didn't seem to the liking of the crowd. When Asgore asked for more questions, no one raised their hands. Either they'd all had the same question as Remi, or, more likely, they lost their nerves. People looked around the room, as though wishing someone else would ask a question but not wanting to do it themselves. Asgore waited patiently, but no one seemed willing to speak up.

"Well, thank you for your time and your questions. I hope this is merely the first of many meetings to come, but until then… Have a wonderful afternoon," Asgore nodded respectfully toward everyone before stepping off the podium. A few, unsure claps echoed in the room until everyone caught on and gave the King a round of applause. You followed Asgore hurriedly as he made his way to the side of the gym,

"That was weird… I'm sorry I didn't say anything, I just-"

"It went as well as can be expected, I believe," He interrupted you, then glanced back at you over his shoulder, "Do not worry, I did not expect you to say anything. You did just fine,"

You were distracted from answering Asgore by Sans, who was nudging your shoulder with his own. You'd honestly forgotten he was even there; he'd been so silent as he stood by your side. You looked over at him, then followed his subtle gesture with your eyes. You quickly found what he was trying to alert you to; a well-dressed woman with a microphone walking toward your group briskly, while a man with a large camera followed behind her.

You stopped walking and waited for her to catch up. This was obviously not what Sans had in mind, judging by his groan of frustration. Dutifully, he stopped with you, even though he was clearly unhappy about it.

"Oh, hello!" The reporter seemed surprised that you'd stopped, too. She took a second to catch her breath, then introduced herself, "My name is Diana Newton from Channel 11 News. Do you have a moment to talk?" You looked back at Asgore and Undyne, who seemed to have gotten cornered by a couple other reporters of their own. You figured there was no rush, then… Plus, you still felt bad about not saying anything during the Q&A. You felt obligated to say something to someone.

"Yeah, sure." Diana smiled widely and straightened her blazer,

"Excellent! So, you've been stuck on Mount Ebott for a long time… How does it feel to get back to civilization?" You glanced over at Sans, who was standing quite a ways away from you. You figured he just didn't want to be on TV, but still… You wished he would've stayed by your side. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes were dark, as though he was seeing a danger that was invisible to you. But he didn't try to signal you, or anything, so you didn't know what to make of it. You tore your attention away from him to answer the question,

"Um… It's alright. I've been to South Ebott before, and it's a nice town," You ended lamely, unsure what else to say. Diana kept going, undeterred,

"I'm sure you know that people have been clamoring to hear your side of the story. What _really_ happened to you in the Underground?" You nodded a little, unsurprised. You'd expected this question, and were now more prepared to answer it,

"I already told the FBI everything that happened," You spoke slowly and with as much confidence as you could manage to project, "I was hiking with my friends and decided to head back to our campsite early because I was tired. On my way, I tripped and fell into a hole, which led to the Underground. I got lost down there until a monster found me and helped me get back to the surface," You purposefully omitted Sans' name from the story, figuring by his distrustful expression that he didn't want to get dragged into this, "It's really not that complicated." Diana nodded,

"I see… But how did you survive? You were trapped underground for months… That must've been so hard on you."

"O-oh, um…" You stuttered. You'd been expecting to have to defend yourself against accusations, not sympathy. Your fingers clenched and unclenched around the handle of your cane. You'd always been uncomfortable with people feeling sorry for you, and you were beginning to realize that it was even worse when you were lying about your troubles, "I-it wasn't that terrible… It was kind of like camping…" You didn't know whether to laugh or cringe at yourself and how very much _not_ like camping it had been. You ended up chuckling nervously, which only made the reporter's expression look even more sympathetic. She probably thought you'd gone crazy down there... Which, now that you thought about it, was actually not a wholly inaccurate assessment.

"So, you say the monsters saved you… Would you consider them your friends?" Thank God, an easy question. You smiled and answered truthfully for the first time,

"Yes, absolutely. And if people actually got to know them, I think they'd consider them friends, too."

"You consider them such good friends that you would give up your life to be their ambassador?" Diana asked, skeptical but eager. She held the microphone a little too close to your face. Looking back, you realized that all of the previous questions had been leading up to this.

You hadn't expected anyone to care why you, personally, had decided to stay with the monsters. In reality, there were so many reasons; guilt for what you'd done to them, commitment to Sans, and, yes, friendship. But there was something else, too, that you thought you could safely tell the world,

"Yes. Not only that, but I feel like it's my duty to help. When I got to the surface, when I saw that they were being confined to what was basically an internment camp… It was such a great injustice. I thought, if I could do something to help, then I should. So, yeah, I gave up my life to do this, and I'd make the same decision again if I could." You couldn't help but to look over at Sans as you finished, and were disappointed to see that his blank expression hadn't changed. Every now and then, his eyes would dart around, as though looking for some means of escape. You didn't understand why until Diana turned her attention to him,

"That sounds like a noble cause… And is this one of your friends? What do _you_ think about the current state of monster-human relations?" You gritted your teeth, wishing she had just stuck to questioning you. Sans shot you an unreadable look, then forced a smile and shook his head good-naturedly,

"I've got nothin' to say, lady," You side-stepped in front of Sans, feeling like you needed to protect him from the giant camera and microphone in his face,

"We should probably go," You said quickly, reaching for Sans' hand before remembering yourself and grabbing his upper arm instead, "Got a helicopter, to catch, and all."

"Oh, well, thank you for your time," You nodded, barely staying to hear Diana's parting words before nudging Sans in the direction of the exit. He didn't need to be told twice; he ended up leading you toward the door rather than the other way around.

Once you caught up with the other monsters, you found that they were all already gathered together, with Asgore saying some parting words to the other reporters and guests. Some of the humans had already started to leave, which left the gym feeling much more spacious than before. Papyrus was bidding everyone farewell as they left, while Mettaton, Undyne, and Alphys were carrying on a conversation with a small group of stragglers. Sans led you to stand against the wall beside the door, where you could see everyone but no one could approach you from behind. Once you were out of earshot, Sans spoke,

"Don't make me do that again," His sharp tone surprised you. You let go of his arm and put your hand on your hip,

"I'm sorry you had to talk to someone, but I couldn't really do anything about it," You said just as sharply, feeling defensive and a little hurt. It was one reporter, who he didn't even really have to say anything to. You didn't get what the big deal was.

"Not just that, this whole thing. You disappearing on me, then having to stand up there, then the questions…" His eyes darted around again, "I don't like any of this ambassador stuff… I didn't want anything to do with it-"

"Well, it's what _I'm_ doing. You don't have to follow me around if you don't like it," You snapped, then added more calmly, "We can do our own thing every now and then… You don't have to come to these meetings. I won't feel bad if you stay home," Sans clenched and unclenched his jaw, unable to meet your eyes. He looked conflicted, and you wished you could read his thoughts. You supposed you just had to be patient; you'd find out more about what he was thinking later tonight.

"Let's talk about this later," He mumbled, staring at something over to his right. You followed his gaze and saw that Charlie and Daujatas were ushering the reporters away from the King. Asgore saw you and Sans looking in his direction, and motioned for you to follow him. You looked back at Sans sadly,

"Alright. Later, then," You so badly wanted to give him a kiss, but you figured you'd have to save that for later, too. Without further ado, you and Sans followed Asgore out the gym door. As you were walking down the hallway, Papyrus bounded up to you,

"Hello, siblings! Did you have fun at the meeting?" He didn't give you time to answer before declaring, "I had a tremendous amount of fun! Humans are wonderful! Some of them are quite shy, but I think I made great progress toward getting them out of their shells!" Papyrus went on to describe each and every human he met in excruciating detail. Sans seemed to be at least half-listening, but you couldn't help but to tune him out completely. In front of you, Undyne and Alphys were holding hands and talking excitedly about some new show that one of the humans had told them about. Mettaton was behind you, talking the ears off of Hernandez, who seemed to be genuinely interested in hearing about the robot's acting career. Meanwhile, Asgore was up front, speaking in a hushed voice to Charlie. Samuelsson, who had been oddly quiet and innocuous during the whole event, looked like he was eavesdropping.

"How's it goin'?" You jumped at the sound of Green's deep voice right next to you. He was the kind of guy who was always quiet and innocuous, so you weren't all that surprised that he'd managed to accidentally sneak up on you.

"It's fine…" You said, distracted by your own thoughts. There was silence for a moment before Green commented,

"I heard you talking to that reporter," When he added nothing, you asked,

"So how'd I do?" You were too downtrodden by your pseudo-argument with Sans to really care what Green thought of what you'd said. But, still, you surprised yourself by smiling when he gave you a silent thumbs-up, "At least someone thinks so…" You muttered, too quiet for Sans to overhear.

"Eh, you'll do fine. Don't worry about it," Green patted you on the back, and you laughed… Both at the situation in general, and at yourself. The armed officer who was awkwardly trying to comfort you was right; you were doing well at your new job, and would continue to do well. You didn't need Sans' constant praise to know that.

"Thanks. I'll try."


	12. Missing Pages

You and Sans never did talk about it later. After sharing souls that night, there was nothing _to_ talk about. Sans saw how strongly you felt about your new job, and you saw how conflicted he felt about it, too. On one hand, he was happy that you were doing something you cared about. But on the other, he didn't like that it often took you away from him. You had to go to meetings which Sans couldn't be a part of, and now there was the possibility that you might have to travel outside of camp. If Sans had hated the town meeting, then he'd probably hate whatever else you had to do in the future. So he was faced with the choice of either going with you and doing something he loathed, or staying in camp and anxiously waiting for you to get back. You couldn't see a solution to this fundamental difference between the two of you; you certainly weren't going to give up your job, and Sans wasn't going to suddenly start wanting to do ambassador work with you. You'd both just have to get used to being separated every now and then.

In the meantime, things were actually beginning to settle down. Between the Christmas celebration and the town meeting, you hadn't had a chance to breathe for a while. For now, though, all you and Asgore had to do was sit back and let people decide what they thought about the meeting.

It was frustrating to not have television or the internet, since it meant that all of your news from the humans had to be heard second-hand. On top of that, Reives and Wolfe were oddly cryptic about the news they gave you. You had to ask probing questions in order to get anything out of them. It was like they wanted to keep you in the dark… But at least Charlie didn't seem to have any qualms about keeping you updated. He came down from his tower once a few days after the meeting just to show you and Asgore the many news segments that had covered the event.

"How did you get all of these?" You asked while the King squinted to watch a clip on Charlie's phone. The officer silently took the phone and turned it sideways, making the video much larger for Asgore, "I mean, we don't have service up here…"

"Well, I do go home sometimes, y'know," He said, smirking, "I don't sleep up in the Northwest tower."

"How _do_ you get home and back?" You asked, mostly just stalling so that you didn't have to watch yourself on TV. Asgore was chuckling about something, and you didn't want to know what.

"Helicopter. You ever see it land a little South of camp? That's the guards, rotating shifts. Hey, watch this one…"

You reluctantly turned your attention to the phone. After you got over how cringy you thought you looked, you had to admit that most of the coverage seemed pretty positive. The major, national news stations that you recognized appeared unbiased, and the local South Ebott station even had a segment on the similarities and differences between the current monster camp and internment camps of the past. All of it was based on your off-the-cuff comparison. It felt weird, but satisfying, to have people analyzing your words so closely.

One news clip that Charlie had on his phone bothered you, though. It wasn't anything bad against monsters necessarily… It was just a list of all of the missing persons reports that had been filed in the Mount Ebott area. Of course, you and Frisk had been taken off of it, but something about it still struck you as odd… You just couldn't put your finger on what.

After nearly a week of this simmering in the back of your mind, you found yourself staring at the missing persons poster on your front door one morning. It was still nailed there from back when your parents had first given it to you. Or, rather, to Orion. It had become a such a permanent fixture on your house that you never even noticed it anymore; your eyes usually just skipped right by it.

Now, though, you stood with your back leaning on the door frame, letting cold air into the house as you left the door wide open. You had your arms crossed, frowning. Eventually, Sans begrudgingly emerged from the bedroom to see what was going on,

"Any particular reason you've got the door open? You tryin' to freeze me awake, or somethin'?" You pursed your lips, knowing full well that the cold didn't affect Sans, anyway, so you were under no obligation to feel bad. You gestured to the poster,

"See anything wrong with this?" With a small sigh, Sans came to stand next to you, close enough that his arm was pressing into yours. It didn't take him long to figure it out,

"There's not enough people on there," He said casually, as though commenting on the weather, "More people've gone missing since this poster was made. S'that what's been bothering you?" He looked up at you, and you nodded slowly,

"Yeah… I mean, _we_ know it's not the monsters, but I can see how the humans would think that," As you often found yourself doing, you spoke as if you and Sans were not human and monster. Like you were both something else, entirely, "It's weird that so many people would go missing around here." There was a moment of silence. You continued to stare at the faces on the poster, shivering in the cold, January air.

"C'mon, let's get this door closed," Sans suggested, and you knew that he had no answer for you. Reluctantly, you did as he said and shut the door. The two of you walked silently to the kitchen together, Sans sitting at the table while you started making coffee and toast. Once you both had breakfast in front of you, Sans spoke again,

"Well, I hate to suggest doin' any actual work..." You snorted, and Sans smiled, "...But maybe we could put the poster somewhere more visible. Make, like, an announcement board, or somethin'." You chewed your toast thoughtfully,

"Yeah… That's a good idea," You didn't really know why you liked the suggestion so much, seeing how you knew it wouldn't do any actual good. Even if you made the poster more visible to other monsters visiting the surface, (Which, occasionally, you saw them doing. Every now and then, a group of monsters would come up, take a walk outside, maybe take a look at some of the empty houses. It was encouraging, to see more of them being unafraid of the surface.) you knew none of them would find any of the missing humans. The ones that had fallen underground were long dead, and the rest… You had no idea. But, still, the thought of displaying the poster to everyone made you feel a little better about it. Like you were showing your support. Doing something, at least.

Your mind made up, you shoved the rest of the toast into your mouth and stood. You got up a little fast, though, and you hissed at the twinge of pain in your hips. You leaned against the back of the chair you'd been sitting in, and Sans frowned,

"When's the last time you saw Pap?" You had to think for a moment before realizing he was right.

"Like, three days ago… I guess we should go visit him first, huh?"

"Yeah," Sans agreed, his voice strained. He always hated being reminded of your… problem. It seemed to bother him even more than it did you. You were more used to relying on other people for your health. Granted, not to this extent, but still. You figured you were in a better position than most people to cope with this.

Not that you relished living in a body that was technically still dead. Every now and then, you'd notice some new and disturbing consequence that you hadn't foreseen. Like getting a papercut and noticing that it didn't heal for days... Not until Papyrus took care of it for you. You tried not to think about what would happen if you sustained a more serious injury. If you cut yourself, would you bleed until you were dry, your wound unable to close on its own? No, no… Best not to think about it. There was nothing you could do to prepare for something like that, anyway.

Instead, you and Sans headed over to Papyrus' house as soon as you'd cleared your plates. You barely even knocked once before the skeleton had thrown open the door and invited you inside. You didn't even have to tell him why you were there; he seemed to have been expecting you. As soon as you walked in, he told you to sit in a bright, cheerful voice.

"You aren't working today, Pap?" You asked as you limped over to the couch, noticing a suspicious lack of Undyne's loud presence. When both of them worked, they usually left together.

"I only work in the afternoon on Fridays, remember?!" He said as he sat down next to you. He turned to face you, his legs crossed.

"Oh, my bad," You said, though you didn't really feel bad about forgetting. Pap changed his schedule so often, there was no way you or Sans could be expected to keep up with it.

"I swear, you are both so forgetful!" He announced with his eyes narrowed, but you could sense a hint of fondness in his tone. You glanced at Sans, who was standing with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the wall. Was that true? You never used to be forgetful. Were you really taking on Sans' traits, or was Papyrus just painting the two of you with broad strokes? It was hard to tell sometimes.

The three of you lapsed into silence when Papyrus began to heal you. As usual, you were filled with a comforting warmth as his unique magic seemed to seep into your bones. You sighed, your eyes closed. Papyrus huffed in mock annoyance as you leaned back against his chest. You couldn't help that you often nearly fell asleep while being healed; it was always somehow an unexpected, but welcome relief. When he was done, Pap put his hands on your shoulders and pried you away from him, forcing you to sit up straight. You did so with an unhappy grunt, turning around so that you were no longer sideways on the couch. You stretched your legs out in front of you, pleased that they didn't feel sore and achy anymore.

"Thanks again, Pap," You recited earnestly. Papyrus waved you off and stuck his chest out with pride,

"Of course, sibling! The Great Papyrus is happy to lend his superior healing skills, as always!" You snickered, getting a kick out of it whenever the tall skeleton referred to himself in the third person.

"Hey, Sans and I were gonna work on a little project today… Do you think you could help us?" You suggested, glancing at Sans for approval. His smile grew, as you thought it might. Sans didn't hang out with his brother as much as you'd thought he would once you were in separate bodies. You knew why he felt nervous about the prospect, but that didn't change the fact that he should spend time with Papyrus, anyway. This billboard thing would be a good opportunity for that.

"YES! I mean, I am sure my many, varied talents can be of use! What kind of project are you working on?"

You went on to explain Sans' idea of the news bulletin. You didn't mention specifically what you wanted to put on it; you figured it could be used for any kind of announcement, as long as no one covered up the poster you wanted to tack up there. You and Papyrus spent longer than you'd be comfortable admitting discussing where it should go and what materials it should be made out of. You found yourself feeding off of his excitement, and were reminded of the weeks when you'd lived in his house and spent the days creating and solving puzzles with him. Sans wasn't the only one who wasn't spending enough time with Papyrus, these days.

Speaking of Sans, the skeleton in question didn't contribute much to the conversation. He mostly just leaned against the wall, grinning as he watched you and Papyrus debate the merits of putting the bulletin board right at the exit of the Underground versus a little ways down the road. Whenever either of you asked his opinion on something, he'd deflect the question with a pun, betraying just how indifferent he actually was to any of this.

"Sans, why don't you and Papyrus go and get the wood we'll need? I don't wanna walk that far," Really, you just didn't want to go to the Underground because you'd stick out like a sore thumb as the only human down there. But you weren't above using your disability as an excuse, in this case. Plus, it would be a way to get Sans and Papyrus to hang out alone, something you'd decided was needed right about now.

"Sure," He said with a shrug that failed to hide how tense he was, "C'mon, bro. I know a shortcut. Well, a coupla shortcuts…"

Papyrus' eyes lit up as he bounded after Sans out the door. You could hear him jabbering about where would be the best place to get the lumber before the door shut between you.

You hummed, unsure what to do while you waited for the brothers to return. You tapped your fingers on the arm of the couch before standing up, using your cane for support. You figured you could at least go back to your house and take the poster off of your door.

As you stepped back out into the cold, you realized that you couldn't remember the last time you'd been alone like this. The closest you ever got was when you had to go to the bathroom. Otherwise, Sans was always there. And when Sans wasn't there, then it was because you were in a meeting where he couldn't follow you. You wondered if that was why he'd been so tense at the idea of going to the Underground without you; because the two of you had never willingly separated before this. It wasn't something you'd even considered a few moments ago, but wasn't that a good thing? It was probably unhealthy for you and Sans to be glued to each other's sides 24/7. The fact that you were starting to feel more comfortable with him not being there all of the time was a good step forward.

What bothered you was that Sans didn't feel the same way. He still felt unduly nervous whenever you left for a meeting, and would fret about it by pacing the length of the living room until you got back. You were surprised he hadn't paced himself a hole in the floor by now. The fact that you seemed to be getting over the dependency more quickly than him was awkward, to say the least. But he hadn't protested when you asked him to leave with Papyrus… That had to mean something, right?

You walked slowly from Papyrus' house to your own, hyper-aware of your isolation. The mountain air was crisp and fresh. You watched your breath condense in it, momentarily distracted by the sights and sounds of nature around you until you abruptly found yourself standing right in front of your own house. With cold fingers, you struggled to remove the nail holding the poster in place. You didn't have a tool to remove it; you'd hammered it in with a rock, initially. Thankfully, you hadn't done a very good job of it, and you eventually managed to wiggle the nail free.

The poster slid to the ground and made a loud warbling noise, as laminated paper tended to do. You bent down and rolled it up, tucking the poster under your left arm while the right was occupied with your cane. By the time you were through with that ordeal, you turned around to see Papyrus and Sans walking back out from the Underground together.

You made your way over to them, watching with amusement as Papyrus dumped all of the wood he was carrying onto the ground. Sans, meanwhile, levitated his one piece of lumber down slowly until it rested on top of Papyrus' pile. The younger brother looked aggravated, but in that way where everyone could tell he wasn't really serious.

"That was quick," You said as soon as you got close enough to be heard. To your surprise, another voice from inside the maw of the cave answered,

"Woulda been a lot slower, if these two whippersnappers hadn't rushed me!"

Even before Gerson emerged, you found yourself grinning from ear to ear. The old turtle had helped you a lot by giving you the necromancy book many months ago. It was nice to see him again, even though he wouldn't make the connection between you and Orion. He hobbled out into the sunlight, blinking up at it before shaking his head and turning his attention back to you, "Hey there, young'un! Don't believe we've met… The name's Gerson," He held out his hand for you to shake, and you took it,

"Pleased to meet you, I'm-"

"Wahaha!" The old monster laughed before you could finish, "'Ain't no need to introduce yourself, bucko! I reckon every man, woman, and child knows who you are!"

You blushed, suddenly feeling self-conscious. You supposed that made sense; you were rather famous among humans, and it seemed obvious that you would be among monsters, too. But to hear it stated so plainly was strange.

"Gerson leant us the wood!" Papyrus exclaimed, cheerfully oblivious to your discomfort, "He's always got spare things lying around!"

"Yes, well, at least my hoardin' gave you an excuse to come and visit me!" The turtle crossed his arms with indignation. He looked at you, but pointed to Papyrus with his thumb, "I swear, this one never has the time to talk to his ol' guardian… Sad, innit?"

"I visit you all the time!" Papyrus squawked defensively. It was weird to watch Gerson and Papyrus, two people who you'd never seen interact before, argue back and forth like family. And to hear Gerson call himself Papyrus' guardian…

Suddenly, a loud crash interrupted the conversation. Everyone turned to Sans, whose left eye was glowing bright blue. One of the wide, round logs Papyrus had carried to the surface came to rest at the bottom of the hill, but not before smashing into every tree and rock along the way. Sans' eye quickly turned back to normal.

"Whoops… clumsy," He confessed with a wink and a false smile. You didn't think 'clumsy' really covered it, but Papyrus seemed to buy it,

"SANS!" He fumed, stomping his foot petulantly, "That was going to be the leg! Now what will the board stand on?"

"We can go down and carry it back up. Right, Sans?" You quickly assured Papyrus, shooting Sans a look that forbade argument. He sighed imperceptibly,

"Yup," He agreed. You handed the poster off to Gerson before taking Sans' arm and leading him back down the hill. Nevermind that you wouldn't be any help carrying a heavy log up a steep cliff; you needed to go with him to have an emergency discussion.

"Sans…" You started as soon as the two of you were out of earshot, but he cut you off,

"Don't even tell me that it doesn't bother you," He said sharply, but with a hint of desperation in his tone. As though he was hoping that he wasn't the only one. You figured it was better to avoid responding to that.

"I get it, but you can't go throwing things around because you're frustrated that Papyrus has other people in his life," It came out harsher than you'd intended. Sans flinched, and you let go of his arm. Your voice was softer when you continued, "I know it sucks. I know. But you need to move on…"

 _I thought you were ready to move on._ The second half of that sentence didn't make it past your lips, but Sans seemed to know, anyway. He sighed again and ran a hand over his skull,

"I am. I'm trying, anyway. This won't happen again," He walked around you, stiff-backed. Without anything else to do, you followed close behind him. The two of you made it to the bottom of the hill and walked around to where the log had fallen. Its path had created a deep ditch in the snow; the fresh powder was probably what had stopped it from rolling any farther down the road.

"Papyrus' birthday is comin' up soon," He stated casually. You were surprised to hear him talk. The way he said it sounded like a peace offering.

"...What're you going to get him?" You asked after careful deliberation. Sans lifted the fallen log up with his magic and turned back around to face you.

"Dunno. Probably just gonna reuse old gift ideas from the last timeline," He joked, but it sounded strained. After a moment of silence, his shoulders sagged as he added, "I'm… uh… worried he won't like the same stuff he liked before." You bit your lip, remembering how off-putting it had been for Sans to see Papyrus' bedroom in Snowdin covered in pirate-themed paraphernalia.

"I'm sure Papyrus would like anything you got him," You said honestly, "Maybe we could get him something from both of us? That way, if he doesn't like it, you can blame it on me."

Sans laughed, and a relieved smile spread across your face. You were the one who was supposed to be the compulsive worrier, so it was disconcerting when Sans' anxiety levels were as high as they had been recently.

"Sounds like a plan," Sans interrupted your thoughts. You gave him a thumbs-up,

"We can figure out what to get him tonight…" The _'when we're sharing souls'_ part went unsaid, "But we should probably get back up there now," You gestured up to where Gerson and Papyrus were undoubtedly waiting for you. You couldn't see them from your angle, but you assumed they couldn't really get much work done without the base of the billboard.

"Right. Let's go, then," Sans seemed to steel himself before beginning the walk back, the wayward log hovering in front of him as he went. You followed behind him, hoping that this would be the first and the last outburst of its kind.


End file.
